64 



GRAMINEiE. 



soils of the interior from Glenn Co. to Southern California: Little 

 Oak and Davis Hills, Solano Oo., Jepson; Livermore Valley. Apr.- 

 Aug. Varying much in aspect according to habitat, in some situa- 

 tions being much shorter and more rigid, with shorter, stiffer, and 

 more distinctly distichous leaves. Its occurrence in abundance 

 appears to indicate the presence of brackish water near the surface. 

 Sometimes affected by Ergot. 



33. BRIZA L. Quaking-grass. 

 Leaf-blades narrow. Panicle effuse, branches slender, in J whorls. 

 Spikelets pendulous, large, ovate or somewhat cordate, flattish- 

 turgid, many-flowered; pedicels capillary. Bracts subequal, broad, 

 rounded on the back, 3 or 5 to 11-nerved, awnless. Rachilla jointed 

 between the flowers. Bractlets imbricate, roundish, boat-shaped or 

 saccate, scarious-margined, many-nerved, in ours very obtuse; upper- 

 most often empty; palea small, ovate, flat, its nerves ciliate. Scales 

 2, ovate-lanceolate. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous; styles short. 

 Achene strongly ob-compressed, broadly ovoid. (Ancient Greek 

 name, used by Galen for a kind of grain, "like rye," grown in 

 Thrace and Macedonia.) 



Spikelets % in. or less long. 

 Perennial; ligule Y 2 to 1 line long; spikelets ovate; bracts not equaling the 



nearest bractlet: leaves smooth 1. B. media. 



Annual; ligule 1% to 3 lines long; spikelets deltoid; bracts exceeding the 



nearest bractlet; leaves scabrous 2. B. minor. 



Spikelets % in. long and at the base almost as broad; bracts dark brown, with 

 broad, scarious margins; bractlets chestnut-brown 3. B. maxima. 



1. B. media L., Perennial Quaking-grass, has been reported 

 from San Francisco, Bolander, Santa Cruz, Anderson, and elsewhere, 

 but all the specimens we have seen under this name are referable to 

 B. minor. 



2. B. minor L. Annual Quaking-grass. Annual; ligule \\ 

 to 3 lines long; blades scabrous; spikelets deltoid, the bracts extend- 

 ing farther outward on each side than do the adjacent bractlets. 



Naturalized at Mission Dolores, San Francisco, as early as 1866, 

 Bolander; Mt. Tamalpais; Lake San Andreas; Mill Valley; Olema, 

 and northward. 



3. B. maxima L. Kattlesnake-grass. Annual, 16 to 24 in. 

 high; spikelets £ in. long and almost as broad at the base; bracts 

 dark brown, with broad, scarious margins; bractlets chestnut-brown. 



Often cultivated as an ornamental grass; found as a garden escape 

 near Healdsburg in 1896, said to have been there several years, Miss 

 Alice King; near Monterey, Miss Eastwood. 



34. DACTYLIS L. 



Perennial. Panicle usually dense and branched, secund, glomerate 

 and interrupted, bearing thick, crowded, secund fascicles of spikelets 

 at the ends of the short branches. Spikelets sessile, laterally, much 

 compressed, somewhat concave on the inner side, 3 to 5 or rarely only 

 1-flowered, the terminal bractlet and palea empty. Bracts mucronate, 



