MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



173 



what shorter than the lemma. An- 

 nuals or perennials with narrow pan- 

 icles. Type species, Dissanthelium 

 swpinum Trin. Name from Greek, 

 dissos, double, and anthelion, a small 

 flower, alluding to the two small 

 florets. 



1. Dissanthelium calif ornicum 

 (Nutt.) Benth. (Fig. 235.) Annual, 

 lax; culms more or less decumbent 

 or spreading, about 30 cm. tall; 

 blades flat, 10 to 15 cm. long, 2 to 

 4 mm. wide; panicle 10 to 15 cm. 

 long, narrow but rather loose, the 

 branches in fascicles, ascending, slen- 

 der, flexuous, some of them floriferous 

 to base; glumes narrow, acute, nearly 

 equal, about 3 mm. long; lemmas 

 pubescent, nearly 2 mm. long. O 

 —Open ground, islands off the south- 

 ern coast of California and of Baja 

 California. 



19. REDFlfiLDIA Vasey 



Spikelets compressed, mostly 3- or 

 4-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating 

 above the glumes and between the 

 florets; glumes somewhat unequal, 

 1-nerved, acuminate; lemmas char- 

 taceous, 3-nerved, the nerves parallel, 

 densely villous at base; palea as long 

 as the lemma; grain free. A rather 

 tall perennial, with extensive rhi- 

 zomes, and a large panicle with 

 diffuse capillary branches. Type spe- 

 cies, Redfieldia flexuosa. Named for 

 J. H. Redfield. 



1. Redfieldia flexuosa (Thurb.) 

 Vasey. Blowout grass. (Fig. 236.) 

 Culms tough, 60 to 100 cm. tall, the 

 rhizomes long, slender; blades gla- 

 brous, involute, elongate, flexuous, 

 tapering to a fine point; panicle ob- 

 long, one-third to half the entire 

 length of the culm; spikelets 5 to 7 

 mm. long, broadly V-shaped, the 

 glumes acuminate, about half as long 

 as the spikelet; lemmas acute, some- 

 times mucronate, 4 to 5 mm. long. 

 % —Sand hills, North Dakota to 

 Oklahoma, west to Utah and Arizona 

 (Moki Reservation). A sand-binding 

 grass. 



Figure 235. — Dissanthelium calif ornicum. Plant, 

 X M; spikelet and floret, X 10. (Trask 324, Calif.) 



