MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



309 



involute or in damp weather flat, 

 glabrous or sparsely pilose; panicle 

 2 to 5 cm. long, rarely longer, the 

 stiff short branches bearing a single 



spikelet, or the lower longer with 2 

 (rarely 3 or 4), usually erect after 

 anthesis; glumes 10 to 12 mm. long 

 (rarely longer) ; lemmas 3.5 to 5 mm. 

 long, sparsely villous except the 2- 

 toothed summit, the teeth acuminate 

 to subsetaceous; terminal segment of 

 awn about 5 mm. long; palea broad, 

 flat, obtuse, ciliolate, reaching to the 

 base of the awn. % — Dry and 

 sterile or rocky soil, Newfoundland 

 to British Columbia, south to Florida, 

 eastern Texas, and eastern Kansas, 

 in the mountains to New Mexico 

 and Oregon. Variable; tall specimens 

 with longer blades and setaceous 

 teeth resemble D. compressa. A rather 

 stiff western form with subsetaceous 

 teeth has been described as D. 

 thermale Scribn. Very slender plants 

 with narrow pilose blades and spike- 

 lets only 8 to 9 mm. long have been 

 differentiated as var. longipila Scribn. 

 and Merr. D. spicata var. pinetorum 

 (Piper) Piper has been differentiated 

 on variable characters. The basal 

 blades, said to be slightly if at all curl- 

 ing, are closely curled in the type 

 specimen. 



Figure 416. — Danthonia spicata. Plant, X X A\ spikelet, floret, and cleistogene, X 5. (Gayle 787, Maine.) 



