42 



GRAMINEiE. 



Annual; panicle dense, not distinctly lobed or interrupted, except below; awns 

 2 to r>y 2 lines long i.p. Monspeliams. 



Perennial; panicle much interrupted or distinctly lobed; awns about 1 line 

 long 2. P. littoralis. 



1. P. Monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Tawny Beard-grass. Annual; 

 rootstock tufted; stems a few inches to 2 or even 3 ft. high, leafy; 

 panicle dense, not distinctly lobed or interrupted except sometimes 

 below, to 4 in. long, often of a tawny tinge; spikelets very 

 numerous, nearly hidden under the slender awns; awns 2 to 3£ lines 

 long; bracts scabrid, deeply notched; bractlet truncate-dentate. 



Native of Europe. Abundant throughout the State, especially in 

 moist places: Martinez, Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and Point 

 Reyes. Apr.-Aug., or in wet places even to Oct. 



2. P. littoralis Smith. Water Beard-grass. Perennial; root- 

 stock solitary; stems weak, ascending, geniculate at the lower nodes, 

 1 to 2 ft. high; panicle much interrupted or distinctly lobed, 2 to 5 

 or rarely 6 in. long, somewhat shining, often purplish; branches in 

 dense whorls, very irregular; spikelets not concealed by the awns; 

 awns about 1 line long; bractlet awned. 



Introduced and common in moist localities along the coast: San 

 Francisco, Berkeley, etc. Apr.-Aug. Closely resembling Agrostis 

 verticillata, but at once distinguished by the presence of awns. 



12. AGROSTIS L. Bent-grass. 

 Leaf-blades flat. Panicle-branches whorled, often in clusters of 

 several, filiform. Spikelets very numerous, small, to 2 lines 

 long, strictly 1-flowered. Bracts narrow, keeled, acute or acuminate, 

 awnless or almost awn-ppinted, persistent; lower somewhat longer 

 than the upper. Rachilla not distinctly prolonged beyond the inser- 

 tion of the flower, jointed below the bractlet; callus very short, naked, 

 or with a few short hairs. Bractlet mostly shorter than the bracts, 

 very thin, broad, 3 to 5-nerved, obtuse or truncate and toothed, 

 awnless or with a slender, straight, twisted awn on the back usually 

 much below the apex. Palea rarely more than ^ the length of the 

 bractlet, often very minute or obsolete. Scales 2, entire, minute. 

 Stamens mostly 3. Styles very short, free; stigmas feathery. 

 (Agrostis, the Greek name for a grass which mules fed on, perhaps 

 derived from agros, a field, having reference to the habitat of some 

 species.) 



Palea conspicuous, %to% the length of its bractlet. 

 Rootstock stoloniferous; panicle open, 6 to 8 inches long; palea % to y 2 shorter 



than its bractlet 1. A. alba 



var. stolojiifera. 



Rootstock not stoloniferous; panicle interrupted but dense, 1% to 4 in. long; 



palea about equaling its bractlet 2. A. verticillata. 



Palea obsolete, or, if present, minute. 

 Rootstock tufted, not at all stoloniferous; panicle dense and rigidly erect; 

 spikelets 1 line long. 

 Panicle narrowly oblong, dense, 2 to 4 in. long, 5 to 9 lines wide: bractlet 



awned; awn about 1 line long 3. A. densiflora. 



Panicle linear, 4 to 6 in. long, 3 to 4 lines wide; bractlet awnless 



4. A. asperifolia. 



