36 



GRAMINEiE. 



6. P. amethystina Trin. Pukple Canary-grass. Perennial; 

 stems stout, erect, usually 4 to 8 ft. high, often growing in large 

 clumps; ligule 2 to 3| lines long, obtuse; blades to 8£ in. long, 4 to 

 6 lines wide; margins scabrid; peduncle long, slender; thyrse 1^ to 

 3] in. long, about f in. broad, ovate or ovoid, usually purplish: 

 spikelets 3 to 3^ lines long; bracts strongly keeled but not winged, 

 acute, glabrous except for the scabrid keel; empty bractlets 1£ to If 

 lines long, hirsute except on the nerve, which is shining; flower- 

 enclosino; bractlet 2 to 2.> lines long, acuminate, shining, sparsely 

 hairy. 



Moist places in the Coast Ranges from Mendocino Co. southward: 

 San Francisco: Lake Pilarcitos; Angel Island; Mill Valley and Bear 

 Valley, Marin Co.; Point Isabel and Berkeley. Reported also from 

 Bolinas Bay and Napa Valley by Bolander. Apr.-June. 



7. P. arundinacea L. Reed Caxary-grass. Perennial; root- 

 stock creeping; stems stout, erect, usually 3 to 6 ft. high; sheaths 

 scarcely inflated; ligule broad, clasping the stem, about 2 lines long, 

 blades 4 to 12 in. long, 3 to 7 lines wide, smooth; panicle 3 to 6 or 9 

 in. long, often purplish, and much interrupted or lobed; branches 

 few at a node, the lower h to 2 in. long; bracts linear-lanceolate, 

 strongly keeled, scabrid; empty bractlets 2. narrow, hairy, about 

 £ the length of the flower-enclosing bractlet; the latter about 1.} 

 lines long, acuminate, sub-glabrous and shining. 



Moist places beside streams and sloughs: reported as collected near 

 Sacramento by the Wilkes expedition, Bot. Cat., and at Xiles, Behr; 

 Upper Lake, Lake Co. and Bakersfield, Davy. Beal states that it is 

 often called "Crazy-grass"' in the Northwest, as it is thought to be 

 injurious to horses. 



6. ANTHOXANTHUM L. Sweet Verxal-grass. 

 Leaf-blades flat Panicle cylindrical, spikelike. Spikelets 1- 

 rlowered: bract> thin, herbaceous, persistent, keeled, lower 1 -nerved, 

 upper about twice its length and 3-nerved; flower perfect, terminal, 

 subtended by 2 empty dorsally awned bractlets which are clothed 

 with brown hairs and are smaller than the bracts; rachilla jointed 

 above the bracts. Flower-enclosing bractlet and palea alike, awnless. 

 smooth, obtu-e. at first hyaline, then chartaceous; bractlet enveloping 

 the palea, with 3 very fine nerves; palea narrower, with 1 very fine 

 central nerve or keel. Scales obsolete. Stamens 2; anthers large, 

 yellow. Ovary glabrous; styles long, distinct; stigmas long. (Greek 

 anthos, a flower, xanthos, yellow, in allusion to the yellow tint given 

 to the spikelets by the brightly colored anthers. Becoming fragrant in 

 drying. ) 



1. A. odoratum L. Sweet Vernal-grass. Perennial; stems 

 £ to 2 ft. high, shining; sheaths furrowed, glabrous or pubescent, 

 hairy at the mouth; blades often sparingly hairy, \\ to 6 in. long; 

 panicle 1 to \\ (rarely 5) in. long, contracted, sometimes interrupted 

 below; branches very short; spikelets 3 to 4 lines long, sub-sessile, 

 often yellowish-green; lower bract ovate, acute, about 2 lines long. 



