MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



207 



decumbent base, 50 to 100 cm. tall; 

 sheaths closed; blades flat, narrowed 

 at the base, 1 to 5 mm. wide; panicle 

 about 10 cm. long, the branches 

 single or in pairs, more or less droop- 

 ing, bearing 1 or 2 spikelets; spike- 

 lets 2 to 2.5 cm. long; glumes purplish, 

 less than half as long as the spikelet; 

 lemmas about 1 cm. long, the awn 

 as long as the lemma or longer. % 

 (Melica striata Hitchc; M. pur- 

 pur ascens Hitchc; Avena torreyi 

 Nash.) — Rocky woods, Newfound- 

 land to southern Alaska, south to 

 Maryland, Kentucky, South Dakota, 

 and Montana, and in the mountains 

 from British Columbia to New Mexi- 

 co; Siberia and Japan. 



32. VASEYOCHLOA Hitchc. 



Spikelets subterete or slightly com- 

 pressed, several-flowered, the rachilla 

 disarticulating above the glumes and 

 between the florets, the joints very 

 short; glumes rather firm, unequal, 

 much shorter than the lemmas, the 

 first 3- to 5-nerved, the second 7- to 

 9-nerved; lemmas rounded on the 

 back, firm, closely imbricate, 7- to 

 9-nerved, broad, narrowed to an ob- 

 tuse entire apex and with a stipelike 

 hairy callus, pubescent on the lower 

 part of the back and margins; palea 

 shorter than the lemma, splitting at 

 maturity, the arcuate keels strongly 

 wing-margined ; caryopsis concavo- 

 convex, oval, black, the base of the 



styles persistent as a 2-toothed crown. 

 Slender perennial with elongate blades 

 and somewhat open panicles. Type 

 species, Vaseyochloa multinervosa. 

 Named from Vasey and Greek, chloa, 

 grass. 



1. Vaseyochloa multinervosa (Va- 

 sey) Hitchc. (Fig. 274.) Culms erect, 

 loosely tufted, 40 to 100 cm. tall, 

 with slender rhizomes; sheaths sca- 

 berulous, pilose at the throat; blades 

 flat to loosely involute, 1 to 4 mm. 

 wide; panicle narrow, loose, 5 to 20 

 cm. long, the branches few, at first 

 appressed, later spreading, the lower 

 as much as 8 cm. long, bearing a 

 few spikelets from about the middle; 

 spikelets 12 to 18 mm. long, 6- to 

 12-flowered, purple-tinged; glumes 

 acute, the first narrow, 4 mm. long, 

 the second broad, 5 mm. long; lem- 

 mas narrowed to an obtuse point, 

 about 6 mm. long, the nerves be- 

 coming rather obscure toward ma- 

 turity; grain 2.5 to 3 mm. long, 1.5 

 to 2 mm. wide, deeply concave on 

 the ventral side. % (Melica multi- 

 nervosa Vasey; Distichlis multinervosa 

 Piper.) — Sandy open woods or open 

 ground, southeastern Texas; rare. 

 The rhizomes appear to break off 

 readily, most herbarium specimens 

 being without them. 



32A. ECTOSPERMA Swallen 

 (See pp. 860, 995) 



33. TRIDENS Roem. and Schult. 



(Included in Triodia R. Br. in Manual, ed. 1.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes 

 and between the florets; glumes membranaceous, often thin, nearly equal in 

 length, the first sometimes narrower, 1-nerved, the second rarely 3- to 5- 

 nerved, acute to acuminate; lemmas broad, rounded on the back, the apex 

 from minutely emarginate or toothed to deeply and obtusely 2-lobed, 3-nerved, 

 the lateral nerves near the margin, the midnerve usually excurrent between 

 the lobes as a minute point or as a short awn, the lateral nerves often excurrent 

 as minute points, all the nerves pubescent below (subglabrous in 1 species) , the 

 lateral nerves sometimes conspicuously so throughout; palea broad, the 2 

 nerves near the margin, sometimes villous; grain concavo-convex. Erect, 

 tufted perennials, rarely rhizomatous or stoloniferous, the blades usually 

 flat, the inflorescence an open to contracted or capitate panicle. Type species, 



