6S 



GRAMINEiE. 



panicula, a tuft or panicle on plants, haying reference to the 

 inflorescence.) 



1. P. pauciflora (Presl.) Ktze. Smooth Maxxa-grass. Stout 

 perennial of fresh- water marshes; rootstock stout, creeping; stems 

 2 to 4 ft. high, stout, sometimes 2} lines in diameter, erect from a 

 decumbent base, rooting at the lower nodes, leafy throughout; leaves 

 about 6; sheaths split to the base, loose, smooth, pale green; ligule 

 broad, obtuse, entire but soon becoming lacerate, 1 to 3£ lines long; 

 blade 4 to 12 in. long, 3 to 7^ lines wide, flat, scabrous; panicle 

 lax, narrow, 6 to 8 in. long, pale green; branches in £ whorls of 2 to 

 5 below, capillary and flexuous, rough, erect, somewhat remote, 

 spikelet-bearing above the middle, the longest about 3£ in. long; 

 pedicels short; spikelets oblong, 2 to 3 lines long, 4 to Ij-flowered; 

 bracts less than h the length of the nearest bractlet; lower 1-nerved, 

 acute; upper rounded, 3-nerved; bractlet about 1 line long, promi- 

 nently 5-nerved, scabrous, with a purplish border below the scarious 

 truncate-obtuse serrulate apex. — (Glyceria pauciflora Presl.) 



A common grass in fresh- water marshes of the Coast Ranges and 

 Sierra Nevada: Lake Pilarcitos; Olema; Gruerneville and northward. 

 Apr.-Aug. 



38. FESTUCA Tourn. Fescue-grass. 



Leaves and flowers often rather harsh to the touch. Panicle 

 various, loose and spreading or racemose and sometimes secund. 

 Leaf-blades often auricled at the base. Spikelets sub-terete, 2 to 

 many (rarely by abortion only l)-flowered. Bracts 2 (rarely only 1), 

 not equaling the nearest bractlet, membranaceous, acute; lower 

 1-nerved; upper larger, 3-nerved. Rachilla jointed below the 

 bractlets. Bractlets not webby, convex, not keeled, chartaceous or 

 nearly coriaceous, 3 to 5-nerved, mucronate or awned at or near the 

 tip, uppermost sometimes empty; palea 2-toothed or 2-fid, nerves 

 hairy. Scales 2, notched or 2-lobed. Stamens 1 to 3. Ovary 

 usually glabrous; styles short, terminal. (Latin festuca, a slender 

 shoot, or straw; also used by Latin writers to designate some 

 straw-like weed.) 



Perennials. — Eu-Festuc a. 

 Awns less than 2 lines long. 

 Stems slender, % to 3 ft. high; liirnle and auricles glabrous; rootstock 

 tufted, sometimes stoloniferous; lowest bractlet 2% to 3% lines long. 



1. F. rubra. 



Stems stout, 3 lo 4 ft. high; ligule and auricles villous ... 2. F. Californica. 



Awns 4 to 6 lines long 3. F. denticulata. 



Slender annuals; inflorescence a raceme se panicle or raceme; awns 2% to 7 

 lines long.— VuLPrA. 

 Branches and spikelets mostly spreading; the latter 1 to 5-flowered; bracts 



sub-equal, the lower \%\o2% lines long 4. F. microstuchys. 



Branches and spikelets erect, appressed; spikelets 5 to 8 (rarely only 3)- 



flou ered; bracts often very unequal, sometimes sub-equal 



6. F. Myuros. 



1. F. rubra L. Red Fescue. Rootstock perennial, tufted and 

 sometimes stoloniferous; stems slender, erect, 2 to 2\ ft. high, often 



