MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



275 



50. SCRIBNERIA Hack. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, solitary, appressed flatwise against the 

 somewhat thickened continuous rachis, the rachilla disarticulating 

 above the glumes, prolonged as a very minute hairy stipe; glumes 

 equal, narrow, firm, acute, keeled on the outer nerves, the first 

 2-nerved, the second 4-nerved; lemma shorter than the glumes, 

 membranaceous, obscurely nerved, the apex short-bifid, the faint 

 midnerve extending as a slender awn; palea about as long as the 

 lemma; stamen 1. Low annual, with slender cylindric spikes. 

 Type species, Scribneria bolanderi. Named for F. Lamson-Scribner. 



1. Scribneria bolanderi 

 (Thurb.) Hack. (Fig. 

 540.) Culms branching at 

 base, erect or ascending, 

 7 to 30 cm tall; foliage 

 scant, the blades subfili- 

 form; ligule about 3 mm 

 long; spike about 1 mm 

 thick, usually one third 

 to half the entire height 

 of the plant, the inter- 

 nodes 4 to 6 mm long; 

 spikelets about 7 mm long; 

 lemmas pubescent at base, 

 the awn erect, 2 to 4 mm 

 long. © — Sandy or 

 sterile ground, in the 

 mountains, Washington to 

 California; rare or over- 

 looked, very inconspicuous 



TRIBE 4. AVENEAE 



51. SCHISMUS Beauv. 



Spikelets several - flow- 

 ered, the rachilla disartic- 

 ulating above the glumes 



and between the florets ■ FlGU RE 540.— Scribneria bolanderi. Plant, X H; rachis joint 

 i i n i and spikelet, X 5. (Suksdorf 217, Wash.) 



glumes subequal, longer 



than the first floret, usually as long as the spikelet, with white mem- 

 branaceous margins; lemmas broad, rounded on the back, several- 

 nerved, pilose along the lower part of the margin, bidentate; palea 

 broad, hyaline, the nerves at the margin. Low tufted annuals with 

 filiform blades and small panicles. Type species, Schismus marginatus 

 Beauv. (S. barbatus). Name from Greek, schismos, a splitting, re- 

 ferring to the bidentate lemmas. This genus has usually been placed 

 in the tribe Festuceae, but its characters place it more naturally 

 in the tribe Aveneae. 



1. Schismus barbatus (L.) Chase. (Fig. 541.) Culms tufted, 

 erect to prostrate-spreading, 5 to 35 cm tall; blades usually less than 



