PIPEB NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF FE9TU< \. 6\ 



hi SCRIP1 ION. 



Densely tufted, with coarse matted roots; culms erecl or geniculate 

 3-jointed, 60 to 70 cm. high; Bheaths Bmooth, mostly shorter than the inten 

 ligule very Bhort; blades loosely involute, shining, narrowly linear, scabrid above, 

 B to 15 cm. Long, about 4 nun. wide, acute at apex: panicle loose and open, 8 to 10 

 cm. Long; lower ray.- in pair-, the upper solitary, each pulvillus-bearing at base, 

 subterete, scaberulous, naked below; Bpikelets oblong, s t«. 12 mm. long, 4 or 5-flow- 

 ered, purple- tinged; joints of the rachilla cylindric, scaberulous, 1 nun. long; glumes 

 lanceolate, glabrous or nearly so, the lower L-nerved, - to '■'> nun. long, the upper 

 3-nerved, aboul 4 nun. long; lemma membranaceous, linear-lanceolate, strongly 

 5-nerved, appressed-hispidulous, »i nun. long, attenuate into a straighl scabrous awn 

 aboul 2 mm. long; palea obtuse, about equaling tin- lemma, -on,. •what scabrous. 

 Plate IX. 



Explanation of Plate. — Drawn from duplicate type from 248 Hoivcll, collected in I 

 Mountains, < Oregon. Plant one-half natural size; details magnified five tin 



L9. Festuca altaica Trin. 



Festuca altaica Trin. in Ledeb. Fl. Alt. 1:109.1829. "In summaalpe ad fontemfl. 

 Acjulac rarissima." 



ca scabrella Torr.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 2. 252. 1840. Type probably at the 

 British Museum, collected in the Rocky Mountains by Drummond. Duplical 

 the same are in the Torrey Herbarium and in the < rray Herbarium. 



The Drummond specimens arc most nearly matched in recent collections by plants 

 collected on Mount Albert, Gaspe\ by Allen in l ss l and 1882. No recent collection 

 seems to have been made near the type locality. Hooker's figure shows a panicle 

 with ascending rays, but the Gray Herbarium specimens show spreading rays as in 

 most northern material. The nearly smooth and loosely involute leaves are likewise 

 characters which ally the plant to altaica proper, rather than to the more scabrous 

 plant of the United states, which, however, it resembles in its ratherdull Bpikelets. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Densely tufted, with numerous basal leave-; culms erect, smooth or nearly so, 2- 

 jointed, 30 to 90 cm. high; sheaths striate, smooth or the uppermost scabrous; ligule 

 very short; blades mostly involute, smooth or scabrous beneath, especially toward 

 the apex, hispidulous above; panicle ample, loose and open, erect, 10 to 20 cm. long; 

 rays mostly in pairs in about »; verticels, slender, fiexuous, naked below the mid- 

 dle, branched above, pulvillate-thickened at base; spikelets broadly oblong, 

 5-flowered, l2to 15 mm. long, yellowish-green, or more commonly coppery or pur- 

 ple; florets close, nearly parallel to the rachilla: joints of the rachilla cylindric or 

 slightly clavate, scabrous, 2 to 3 mm. long; glumes smooth, or scabrous near the 

 apex, the lower oblong-lanceolate, obtusish, l-nerved, 6 to 7 mm. long, the upper 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute. 3-nerved, 8 to 9 mm. long; lemma Lanceolate-ovate, attenuate- 

 acute, 5-nerved, finely and densely scabrous, somewhat shiny, 10 to 12 mm. long, 

 firm-membranaceous; palea oblong-lanceolate, notched at apex, the inflexed sides 

 more than half a- broad a< the internerve. the nerve- hispidulous. 



The species ranges through Siberia, and in North America occurs in Alaska, Yukon, 

 and on Mount Albert, Quebec. 



20. Festuca hallii Vas 



Melica hallii Vasey, Bot Gaz. 6: 296, 1881. Type specimens in the National Her- 

 barium, collected in the Rocky Mountains, latitude :; ( .< to f! . by TTall & Harbour 

 I no. 621 >. in 1862^ These specimens have a narrow strict panicle, and are e\ idently 



from high altitudes. 



