MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



293 



Blades firm or filiform; glumes not exceeding the upper floret. 



Blades filiform, flexuous; awn exserted, geniculate, twisted 5. D. plexuosa. 



Blades flat or folded, stiff; awn included or slightly exserted, straight. 



Panicle open, usually nodding or drooping 6. D. caespitosa. 



Panicle narrow, condensed, erect 7. D. holciformis. 



1. Deschampsia danthonioides 



(Trin.) Munro ex Benth. Annual 

 hairgrass. (Fig. 396.) Annual; culms 

 slender, erect, 15 to 60 cm. tall; 

 blades few, short, narrow; panicle 

 open, 7 to 25 cm. long, the capillary 

 branches commonly in twos, stiffly 

 ascending, naked below, bearing a 

 few short-pediceled spikelets toward 

 the ends; glumes 4 to 8 mm. long, 

 3-nerved, acuminate, smooth except 

 the keel, exceeding the florets; lem- 

 mas smooth and shining, somewhat 

 indurate, 2 to 3 mm. long, the base 

 of the florets and the rachilla pilose, 

 the awns geniculate, 4 to 6 mm. long. 

 O —Open ground, Alaska to Mon- 

 tana and Baja California; also Chile. 









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396. — Deschampsia danthonioides. Panicle, 

 umes and floret, X 10. (Parish 3300, Calif.) 



Figure 397. — Deschampsia elongata. Panicle, X 1 

 glumes and floret, X 10. (Swallen 780, Calif.) 



Variable in the size of the spikelets. 

 A form described from southern 

 California as D. gracilis Vasey, with 

 somewhat laxer panicles, the rather 

 more numerous spikelets only 4 to 

 5 mm. long, grades into the usual 

 form. 



2. Deschampsia elongata (Hook.) 

 Munro ex Benth. Slender hair- 

 grass. (Fig. 397.) Culms densely 

 tufted, slender, erect, 30 to 120 cm. 

 tall; blades soft, 1 to 1.5 mm. wide, 

 flat or folded, those of the basal tuft 

 filiform; panicle narrow, as much as 

 30 cm. long, the capillary branches 

 appressed; spikelets on short ap- 

 pressed pedicels; glumes 4 to 6 mm. 

 long, 3-nerved, equaling or slightly 

 exceeding the florets; lemmas 2 to 

 3 mm. long, similar to those of D. 

 danthonioides, the awns shorter, 

 straight. 91 — Open ground, Alas- 

 ka to Wyoming, south to Arizona 

 and California; Mexico; Chile. 



