b CONTRIBUTIONS PROM THE NATION AX EXBBABIUM. 



DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY. 



We have taken the liberty to introduce the word U mma a to apply to 

 the " lower palef'or "outer palef'or "flowering glume" of authors, 

 restricting the word "glume" to the " empty glumes." This Lb done 

 purely for a practical reason, namely, to avoid the constant use of 

 phrases for the members of the grass spikelet most used in technical 

 descriptions. 



The only other attempt to apply a single-word term to the " flowering 

 glume" we have noticed is the word u floriglume," proposed by Prof. 

 George Macloskie in volume s <>f the Report of the Princeton Univer- 

 sity Expedition to Patagonia. This term seems to us objectionable, 

 because it is likely to lead to confusion with the word "glume," a^ 

 applied to both empty glumes. The so-called third empty glume of 

 some grasses is really a sterile lemma. 



The use of a single distinctive name for each part of the grass spike- 

 let seems much preferable to the employment of such general terms 

 as bracts, bractlets, and scales. 



SYNOPSIS OF UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN SPECIES. 



FESTTJCA L. 



Fcstuca I.. Sp. PI. 1: 7:;. L753. 



Spikelets 2 to many-flowered, variously paniculate or sometimes racemose; rachilla 

 articulate at the joints and above the glumes; florets all perfect, or the uppermost 

 Btaminate; glumes 2, persisting, carinate, unequal or Bubequal, the lowest L-nerved 

 (rarely 3-nerved), the upper larger ami 3-nerved 1 rarely 5-nerved); lemma lanceo- 

 late, usually narrow, commonly aristate, always 5-nerved, convex or Bubcarinate, 

 firm in texture at least near the base, the apex and margins sometimes scarious, the 

 calloee base smooth or nearly so; palea bicarinate, oblong or lanceolate, obtuse, acute. 

 acuminate, or bidentate at apex, usually about equaling the lemma; lodicules2, about 

 as long as the ovary, sometimes entire, usually bifid; stamens .'! in the perennial spe- 

 cies, in the annuals often reduced t«» 1; ovary ohovate. smooth or hispidulous at apex ; 

 styles very short, distinctly apical: stdgmas plumose, the branches toothed; caryop- 

 sis linear or oblong, glabrous, convex dorsally. sulcate or rarely plane ventrally, often 

 adhering to the palea; hilum linear. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Subgenus VuLPIA. Annual-: stamens usually 1. sometimes .">, rarely becoming 

 extruded; stigma plumose, the branches toothed, bilateral. 

 8pikeletsdensely5to 13-flowered; lemma withoutscarious margin. 1. octqfltra. 

 Spikelets loosely 1 to 5, rarely 6-flowered; lemma with narrow 

 Bcarioufl margin. 



Branches of the short panicle normally divergent, a pul villus 

 at the base of at least one of them. 

 Florets mostly 3 to 5 in each spikelet, only the principal 

 panicle branches divergent. 



a \ififia {Xeju^ar- 1. husk, scale. 



