204 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



or less bulbous; sheaths glabrous or 

 pubescent, the lower persistent, brown 

 and shredded; blades 1 to 4 mm. 

 wide; panicle narrow, rather dense, 

 10 to 20 cm. long, tawny to purplish, 

 not silvery; spikelets short-pediceled, 

 10 to 12 mm. long (rarefy shorter) 

 with 2 to 4 florets besides the rudi- 

 ment; glumes scaberulous, a little 

 shorter than the spikelets; lemmas 

 rather prominently 7-nerved, sca- 

 berulous, subacute to obtuse, often 

 emarginate. % (M. bulbosa Geyer 

 ex Thurb., not M. bulbosa of this 

 work.) — Mountain meadows and 

 rocky woods, at low and medium 

 altitudes, Oregon (Malheur County) 

 and California. 



Melica californica var. neva- 

 densis Boyle. Spikelets mostly 2- 

 flowered, 7 to 8 mm. long, the glumes 

 about equaling the upper floret. 01 

 — In the lower Sierra Nevada, Cali- 

 fornia. 



Melica altissima L. Tall perennial; 

 blades 15 to 20 cm. long, 5 to 10 mm. wide; 

 panicle narrow, dense, tawny to purple; 

 spikelets about 12 mm. long; glumes and 

 lemmas broad, papery. "21 — Sometimes 

 cultivated for ornament. Eurasia. 



Melica ciliata L. Panicle pale, narrow, 

 condensed, silky. 21 — Occasionally cul- 

 tivated for ornament. Europe. 



31. SCHIZACHNE Hack. 



Spikelets several-flowered, disartic- 

 ulating above the glumes and be- 

 tween the florets, the rachilla gla- 

 brous; glumes unequal, 3- and 5- 

 nerved; lemmas lanceolate, strongly 

 7-nerved, long-pilose on the callus, 

 awned from just below the teeth of 

 the prominently bifid apex; palea 

 with softly pubescent, thickened sub- 

 marginal keels, the hairs longer toward 

 the summit. Rather tall perennial 

 with simple culms and open rather 

 few-flowered panicle. Type species, 

 Schizachne fauriei Hack. (S. pur- 

 purascens). Name from Greek schi- 

 zein, to split, and achne, chaff, al- 

 luding to the b fid lemma. 



1. Schizachne purpurascens 

 (Torr). Swallen. False melic. (Fig. 

 273.) Culms erect from a loosely tufted 



Figure 271. — Melica 

 frutescens. Plant, X 

 1; floret, X 5. (Munz, 

 Johnston, and Har- 

 wood 4143, Calif.) 



Figure 272. — Melica cali- 

 fornica. Plant, X 1; floret, 

 X 5. (Hoffman 37, Calif.) 



tions, 1 to 2 mm. wide, subinvolute; 

 panicle silvery-shining, narrow, rather 

 dense, 10 to 30 cm. long, the branches 

 short, appressed; spikelets short- 

 pediceled, 12 to 15 mm. long; glumes 

 nearly as long as the spikelet, promi- 

 nently 5-nerved; lemmas subacute, 

 faintly 7-nerved. % — Hills and 

 canyons, at low and medium alti- 

 tudes, Arizona and southern Cali- 

 fornia (Inyo County and south- 

 ward); Baja California. 



18. Melica californica Scribn. (Fig. 

 272.) Culms 60 to 120 cm. tall, the 

 base usually decumbent, often more 



