GRASS FAMILY. 



35 



compact, from ovoid-oblong and 1 in. long, to oblong-cylindrical and 

 2£ in. long; about £ in. wide; spikelets 2 to 3 lines long and 1 line 

 wide, lanceolate-acuminate, with a narrow, thin keel above the mid- 

 dle, sometimes irregularly notched; keel and veins ciliate-scabrid; 

 empty bractlet reduced to a single, short, arcuate-subulate bristle 

 with a distinct callus at the base, about £ line long, closely appressed 

 to the back of the upper flower-enclosing bractlet; the latter 1£ lines 

 long, acute, faintly o-nerved, more or less pubescent and ciliate above 

 with silky hairs, pale brown, shining; anthers pale- or greenish- 

 yellow. 



Indigenous to the Mediterranean Region; now common in the 

 Coast Ranges and great valley: Southern California; "Roadsides near 

 windmill, Berkeley" about 1872, McLean. Little Oak, Solano Co., 

 Jepson; common at Danville, near Martinez and near Princeton. 



4. P. paradoxa L Gnawed Canary-grass. Stems erect, from 

 u geniculate base, 2} ft. high, often branched from the lower nodes; 

 sheaths usually inflated; ligule 14 to 2 lines long, obtuse and soon 

 lacerate; blades 3 to 7J in. long, 1£ to 2 lines wide, flat, scabrous on 

 both surfaces, glaucescent: panicle oblanceolate, obtuse, appearing as 

 though gnawed below; usually only the primary branches bearing per- 

 fect spikelets, those of the secondary branches being abortive or imper- 

 fect; the pedicels of the spikelets in the lower one-third or one-half 

 of the thyrse are much reduced and their spikelets peculiarly aborted; 

 perfect spikelets of lower part of thyrse about 2 -J- lines long, their 

 bracts acuminate but not awned: those of the upper part about 1 line 

 longer and awn-pointed; keel of bracts narrow, terminating in a long 

 or short horn at '£ from the base; staniinate and neuter spikelets about 

 2 lines long, the keel running almost to the apex and shortly or barely 

 horned; empty bractlets 2, minute, about £ line long, appressed to the 

 flower-enclosing bractlet like horny calluses, each with 2 slender, 

 cilia-like hairs about their own length at or near the apex; flower- 

 enclosing bractlet about If lines long, obtuse, firm, sub-glabrous and 

 shining; achene brown, with a black apex. 



Native of the Mediterranean Region; introduced into the Coast 

 Ranges and Great Valley regions: Petaluma, 1896, Leckenby; plenti- 

 ful near Norman, Glenn'Co.. 1898: Pinole Creek Valley. 1900. Davy. 

 May-July. 



5. P. Lemmoni Vasey. Lemmon's Canary-grass. Annual: 

 stems slender, erect, 1£ to 3 ft. high; sheaths scarcely inflated: ligule 

 conspicuous, 2 to 3 lines long; blades 3 to 7^ in. long, 1 to 2 iines 

 wide, long-acuminate; thyrse H to 4 in. long, nearly cylindrical, 

 sometimes slightly interrupted below; spikelets spreading, 2 to 2.] 

 lines long; bracts sub-equal, scabrid-keeled, not at all, or only 

 minutely winged, narrow and acuminate; empty bractlets 2, about I 

 line long, very narrow, shortly hairy below; flower-enclosing bractlet 

 1.} to 2 lines long, abruptly acuminate, pubescent. 



Apparently restricted to California, from Santa Cruz southward, 

 and very rare: Santa Cruz, Lemmon, Anderson; also reported from 

 near Los Angeles by Dr. Anstruther Davidson. 



