222 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Figure 297. — Orcuttia tenuis. Plant, X X A\ spikelet and floret, X 5. 



(Type.) 



Figure 298. — Orcuttia 

 pilosa. Plant, X Yz. ; 

 floret, X 5. (Hoover 

 1298, Calif.) 



lemmas 4 to 5 mm. long, the teeth 2.5 to 3 mm. long. O — San Joa- 

 equal, acute or awn-tipped, strongly quin VaUey 3 Calif., from Stanislaus 

 viscid-glandular at maturity; anthers County to Madera County. 



37. BLEPHARIDACHNE Hack. 



Spikelets compressed, 4-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the 

 glumes, but not between the florets; glumes nearly equal, compressed, 1- 

 nerved, thin, smooth; lemmas 3-nerved, the nerves extending into awns, 

 deeply 3-lobed, conspicuously ciliate, the first and second sterile, containing 

 a palea but no flower, the third fertile, the fourth reduced to a 3-awned rudi- 

 ment. Low annuals or perennials, with short, dense, few-flowered panicles 

 scarcely exserted from the subtending leaves. Type species, Blepharidachne 

 kingii. Name from Greek blepharis (blepharid-), eyelash, and achne, chaff, 

 alluding to the ciliate lemma. 



Glumes a little longer than the florets, acuminate; foliage scaberulous 1. B. kixgii. 



Glumes a little shorter than the florets, subacute; foliage densely grayish harsh-puberulent. 



2. B. BIGELOVII. 



1. Blepharidachne kingii (S. Wats.) 

 Hack. (Fig. 299.) Low tufted peren- 

 nial with the aspect of Tridens 

 pulchellus, but not rooting at upper 

 nodes; culms mostly less than 10 cm. 

 tall; sheaths with broad hyaline 

 margins; blades less than 1 mm. wide, 

 involute, curved, sharp-pointed, 1 to 

 3 cm. long; panicles subcapitate, pale 

 or purplish, 1 to 2 cm. long, exceeded 



by the upper blades; spikelets fla- 

 bellate; glumes about 8 mm. long, 

 acuminate, exceeding the florets; 

 sterile lemmas about 6 mm. long, all 

 the lemmas about the same height, 

 long-ciliate on the margins, pilose at 

 the base and on the callus, cleft 

 nearly to the middle, the lateral lobes 

 narrow, obtuse, the nerve at one 



