GRASS FAMILY. 



61 



keeled, 3 to 5-nerved; palea hyaline, 2-fid. Scales 2, oblique. Sta- 

 mens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles short. Achene almost linear, plano- 

 convex. (Named in honor of Prof. G. L. Kceler, a German 

 Agrostologist, author of "Deseriptio Graminum," published in 1802. 

 A genus for which it is hard to assign any absolutely distinctive 

 character. The bracts are more scarious and more faintly nerved 

 than in related genera.) 



1. K. cristata (L.) Pers. Crested Kceler-grass. Tufted pale 

 green pubescent or silky perennial; rootstock stoloniferous; stems 1 to 

 3 ft. high, slender; sheaths striate; ligule very short; blades narrow, 

 obliquely auriculate at the base; panicle narrow, more or less inter- 

 rupted or lobed, 1 to 5 in. long; rachis pubescent; branches very 

 short, pubescent; primary ones distichous, usually branched again 

 at the base, spikelet-bearing to the base; spikelets shortly pedicellate, 

 2 to 3 lines long, shining, pale green; bracts oblong-lanceolate, keel 

 scabrid; bractlet linear-lanceolate, scabrid, mucronate; palea minutely 

 ciliate and scabrid on the keels; anthers 1 line long, pale purple. 



Exceedingly variable species, common on dry foothills and sandy 

 tracts: Montezuma Hills, Napa Co.; Vaca Ridge, Solano Co., Jepson; 

 San Francisco; Berkeley Hills; Antioch. Apr.-June. Var. PUBJES- 

 cens Vasey, a very pubescent form, has been collected near San 

 Francisco, Michener and Bioletti. Yar. longifolia Vasey, a long- 

 leaved form, is reported from Santa Cruz Co. by Dr. Anderson. 



30. MELICA L. Melic-grass. 

 Stems often forming corms at the base by the thickening of 1 or 2 

 of the lowest internodes. Panicle sparingly branched, often narrow, 

 rarely racemose and secund. Spikelets 2 to 8 (rarely l)-flowered, 

 terminated by 1 to 3 much smaller, convolute, empty bractlets which 

 enfold one another, the innermost often truncate-clavate. Bracts 

 awnless, unequal, convex, mostly obtuse; upper 5 to 9-nerved, lateral 

 nerves often vanishing in the broad, scarious margin and united by 

 delicate cross-veins. Bractlets somewhat distant, awnless, convex or 

 flattish on the back, 5 to many-nerved; apex scarious, mostly blunt, 

 entire or 2-toothed; central nerves sometimes slightly excurrent; 

 palea 2-nerved, ciliate above, emarginate or 2-toothed. Scales fleshy; 

 mostly united. Styles distinct; stigmas plumose. (An old Greek 

 name for some sweet grass, perhaps Sorghum, from meli, honey, 

 and -ika, a Greek suffix.) 



Spikelets of 1 (rarely 2) flowers; bractlet herbaceo-coriaceous, with a narrow 

 scarious margin above, strongly 7 to 9-nerved; stems not corm-like at the 

 base. 



Bracts obtuse, shorter than the whole spikelet; bractlet glabrous or scabrid; 



rudiment shortly pedicellate 1. if. imperfecta. 



Upper bract acute, 'equaling the whole spikelet; bractlet hairy above the 



middle; rudiment long-pedicellate 2. if. Torreyana. 



Spikelets of 2 to 3 perfect flowers; bractlet apparently many-nerved below (at 

 lea-t when dry), with a broad, scarious margin above; lowest internodes 

 swollen and corm-like; ligule brown and pubescent or scabrid below; 

 bractlet 3 to o l / 2 lines long, obtuse, emarginate 3. if. Californica. 



1. M. imperfecta Trin. Slender Melic-grass. Stems slender, 



