140 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
84. Phletjm L. 
Spikelets 1-flowered, laterally compressed, disarticulating above 
the glumes ; glumes equal, 
membranaceous, keeled, 
abruptly mucronate or 
awn eel ; lemma shorter 
than the glumes, hyaline, 
broadly truncate, 3 to 5 
nerved; palea narrow, 
nearly as long as the 
lemma. 
Annuals or perennials, 
with erect culms, flat 
blades, and dense, cylin- 
dric panicles. About 10 
species, in the temperate 
regions of both hemi- 
spheres. 
Type species: Phleum pra- 
tense L. 
Phleum L., Sp. PI. 59, 1753 ; 
Gen. PL, ed. 5, 29. 1754. 
Four species are described, 
P. pratense, P. alpinum, P. 
armarium, and P. schoe- 
noides. The first species 
is chosen as the type because 
it is the only cultivated spe- 
cies in the genus. The first 
three species are still re- 
tained in Phleum ; the fourth 
is referred to Heleochloa. 
Stelephuras Adans., Fam. 
PI. 2: 31, 607. 1763. Based 
on Phleum L. 
Four species of Phleum 
are found in the United 
States. Our only native 
species is P. alpinum L., 
mountain timothy, a per- 
ennial with short spikes, 
two or three times as 
long as wide, found in 
the northern regions of 
Eurasia and America and 
extending south in the 
mountains of New Eng- 
land, in the Rocky Moun- 
tains to Mexico, and in 
the Sierra Nevada and 
Coast Ranges to the San 
Fig. 77. — Timothy, Phleum pratense. Plant, X i ; T . , , te . 
spikeiet and floret, x 5. Jacinto Mountains. 
