GRASS FAMILY. 



43 



Rootstock slender and creeping; panicle narrow, not dense and not rigid; 

 spikelets 1% lines long. 

 Panicle 2 l / 2 to 5 in. long; bractlet awnless 5. A. Diegoama. 



1. Agrostis alba L. var. stolonifera Auct. Creeping Bent. 

 Perennial, stoloniferous and sometimes forming a dense turf; stems 

 decumbent at base, and rooting at the lower nodes then erect, 1 to 3 

 ft. high; sheaths scabrid or almost smooth; ligule 1£ lines long, 

 obtuse; blades 3 to 6 in. long, 1£ lines wide, acute, antrorsely 

 scabrous; panicle open, 6 to 8 in. long, narrow; branches sub-erect 

 in £ whorls, the longest about 2 in. long, branched and spikelet- 

 bearing to near the base; rachis and pedicels scabrous, the latter 

 distinctly clavate; spikelets about 1 line long; bracts sub-equal, 

 narrow, acute, scabrous on the solitary nerve, widely gaping when 

 dry; callus with a tuft of minute hairs on each side; bractlet awnless, 

 narrow-lanceolate, f to 1 line long, minutely 3-toothed; nerves very 

 indistinct; palea distinct, about £ line long; stamens 3; anthers I 

 line long. — (A. stolonifera L. ?) 



Native of Europe, introduced as a pasture grass and naturalized in 

 several localities, preferring moist situations; flats along the Russian 

 River near Guerneville, 1896. July. 



2. A. verticillata Vill. Whorled Bent-grass. Perennial; 

 rootstock not stoloniferous; stems decumbent, 1 to 2 ft. high, rooting 

 from the lower nodes; sheaths inflated, smooth; ligule 1 to 2 lines 

 long, obtuse, scabrid; blades 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 3 lines wide, scabrid 

 above; panicle loosely contracted, 1£ to 4 in. long, 4 to 6 lines wide; 

 branches sub-erect, whorled, the longest about 1 line long and naked 

 at the base, the rest spikelet-bearing from the base up; spikelets 1 line 

 long, obtuse; bracts subequal, obtuse, 1-nerved, scabrid; callus appar- 

 ently naked; bractlet £ line long, 5-nerved and prominently 5- 

 toothed, glabrous; palea conspicuous, almost equaling the bractlet, 

 2-rierved; stamens 3. 



Native of S. Europe. Common in wet places beside springs and 

 streams: San Francisco, 1866, Bolahder; Stege, Berkeley, and 

 Agnews to the Upper San Joaquin Valley and Southern California; 

 perhaps introduced. May-Oct. Resembles Polypogon littoralis, but 

 at once distinguished by the absence of awns. 



3. A. densiflora Vasey. Sea Bent. Apparently annual; stems 

 erect or ascending from a decumbent base, 3 to 12 in. high, stout, 

 leafy, sheaths loose and inflated, smooth or scabrid; ligule 1 to 2 lines 

 long, truncate; blades 2 to 4 in. long, 2 to 3£ lines wide, obtuse, 

 scabrous; panicle narrowly oblong, dense, lobed, 2 to 4 in. long, 

 5 to 9 lines wide, rarely interrupted at the base; branches crowded, 

 erect, whorled or the lowest in £ whorls, all but the longest densely 

 crowded with spikelets from the base up; longest £ to 1 in. long; 

 spikelets 1\ to 1$ lines long; bracts sub-equal, narrow, acuminatelv- 

 pointed, 1-nerved. scabrous especially on the nerve; callus with a 

 tuft of minute hairs at the base of each margin of the bractlet; 

 bractlet 1 line long, glabrous, minutely toothed at the apex, 5-nerved 

 below, midnerve excurrent from a little below the apex as a scabrid 



