24 CONTRIBUTIONS PROM Tin NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



II. Festuea occidentalis I lo. »k 



oa occidental** Hook. l-'l. Bor. Am. 2: 249. 1840. "Plains and elevated grounds 

 of the Colombia near the sea. Dr. Sconler. Douglas." Authentic specimens from 

 Booker are in the < -ray I [erbarium. 



co ovtna polyphylla Vasey; Beal, Grasses V A. 2: 607. 1896. Type specimen 

 in herbarium Michigan Agricultural College, collected in the Cascade Mountains, 

 n. by Howell, in 188 



DBA SIPHON. 



Densely tufted and perfectly glabrous up to the inflorescence; culms slender, shin- 

 ing, 50 to s " cm. high, 2- jointed; leaf blades filiform-involute, numerous, bright green, 

 Boft, becoming longitudinally sulcata when dry, 5 to 20 cm. long, acute at the very 

 apex: ligule very small, truncate; sheathe Bmooth, very long, bul shorter than the 

 internodes, in young plant- often wholly concealing the stem; panicle loose, Bubse- 

 cund, flexuous, 8 to 20 cm. long, often somewhat drooping above; rays scabrous on 

 the Bharp angles, solitary or the lowest paired and very unequal; -pikelets green, 

 oblong, loosely :*> to 5-flowered, <> to 1<> nun. long, mostly on slender Btalks, pale 

 green, or rarely purplish; glumes unequal, variable, even on the Bame plant, usually 

 sharply acute or acuminate, sometimes obtuse or obtusish, the lower l-nerved, 

 2 to 2.5 nun. long, the upper- 3-nerved, aboul one-halt" longer, both usually puberu- 

 lenl near the apex and margins; lemma oblong-lanceolate, rather thin in texture, 5 



to 6.5 mm. long, scaberulous toward the apex, attenuate into a slender awn aboul 

 as long; palea lineardanceolate, acutish, scabrous on the nerves, the indexed sides 

 meeting in the middle when flattened; ovary hispidulous at apex. Plats VIII. 



This -j km it-- has been generally misunderstood, principally owing to the character 

 assigned to the glumes of being short, obtuse, and ciliate. The Gray Herbarium 

 specimens agree perfectly with Hooker'- characterization in this respect, a- do some 

 recent specimens, for example, E. C. Smith's 936, Seattle, Washington; Macoun'e 85, 

 Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, and Heller'- :vkV2. Montesano, Washington. This 

 character i>. however, unreliable, most specimens having longer and usually acute 

 glumes. It is a very different plant from the. Japanese Festuea pauciflora Thunh. to 

 which it was referred by Thurber. Thurber's description in the Botany of Cali- 

 fornia applies not to Hooker's species, hut to Festuea subulata Trin. I /•'. jonetii 

 Vase] 



Festuea occidentalis is an abundanl Bpecies in open woods from British Columbia to 

 middle California, and eastward to Montana. Wyoming, and the Great Lake.-. It is 

 always densely tufted, never showing any trace of rootstocks. 



In Beal's (iras-es of North America the specimens referred to Festuea rubra hetero- 

 phylla i Lam. i Hack., and to F. rubra longiseta (Hegetschw.) Hack, are all /'. 



<!■ i, talis Hook. 



The following are representative specimens: 

 British Columbia: 



Chilliwack Valley, Macoun 26115, 26112. 

 Victoria, Macoun 171. 

 ( oinox. Macoun 17.">. 

 Vale, Macoun 88. 



Blue Mountains. Horner 561. 

 Cascade Mountains, Vasey in 

 Olympia, Henderson 3198, 2177. 



Seattle. Piper B34. 



Mount Rainier, /''> r s ">". 

 Nisqually Valley, AUen ■"■><». 

 Grays Harbor, Lamh 1128, 



