32 



GRAMINEiE. 



ing, 1 to 4 ft. high, very stout; lower nodes much swollen, upper 

 constricted; sheaths sparsely hairy; ligule obsolete; blades variable, 

 6 to 14 in. long, 4 to 6 lines wide, flat, glabrous, or sparsely hairy; 

 margins rough, often waved, ciliate at the base with long hairs; 

 panicle 3 to 6 in. long, green or purple, densely hairy at the nodes; 

 branches somewhat remote, the lowest sometimes 3 in. long, triquet- 

 rous, minutely pubescent; pedicels with long, stiff" hairs; spikelets 

 crowded on 2 sides of the rachis, 1£ lines long; lower bract broad, 

 triangular, about £ as long as the spikelet, 3-nerved; upper concave, 

 broad, oval, 7-nerved, hispid on the nerves, pointed or rigidly awned; 

 lower bractlet empty, shorter than the bracts, 5-nerved, its palea 

 hyaline, 2-nerved; upper bractlet and palea polished, acute or 

 obtuse. 



A cosmopolitan weed, introduced into California in moist places 

 beside sloughs and streams: Grand Island, Jepson; Fort Bragg, 

 Miiliken; Soquel Creek; Stege; Stockton, and near Guerneville. 

 July-Nov. 



3. P. capillare L. Old-witch-grass. Annual; stems 1 to 2 ft. 

 high, geniculate below, often branching at base and forming large 

 tufts; sheaths and often the blades hirsute with stiff", spreading hairs; 

 ligule reduced to a ciliate fringe; blades about 6 in. long, 2\ to 4 lines 

 wide, shortly acuminate, sparsely hairy; edges rough, ciliate below; 

 panicle very diffuse, 6 to 12 in. long, sometimes 9 in. wide; branches 

 solitary or in pairs, sometimes 6 in. long, slender, at first erect, then 

 spreading and finally sometimes deflexed, mostly angular; spikelets 

 in pairs at the ends of the long branchlets, oblong to oval-acuminate, 

 acutely pointed, one long- the other short-pediceled, the latter over- 

 lapping and 1 to H times as long; lower bract 1-nerved, acute; upper 

 5-nerved, pointed, nearly \ longer than the obtuse flower-enclosing 

 bractlet; empty bractlet twice as long as the lower bract, its palea 

 obsolete. 



A very variable grass. Said to occur throughout the State: Lower 

 Sacramento, Jepson; Guerneville. June-Oct. Of no agricultural 

 value. 



4. P. dichotomum L. Branched Panic. Perennial; stems 8 

 to 24 in. high, at first erect and simple, then decumbent and branch- 

 ing from the prostrate nodes; sheaths with a tuft of soft hairs at the 

 nodes, mostly softly-hairy; lower blades nearly ovate, upper linear- 

 lanceolate, smooth or hairy or velvety, acute, 1J to 4 in. long, 2 to 3 

 lines wide; terminal panicle exserted, 1£ to 3£ in. long, open, ovoid 

 or pyramidal; those of the branches short, often barely exserted; 

 panicle-branches filamentous; spikelets 1 line long, obovate or ellip- 

 soidal, obtuse or barely pointed, smooth or hairy; lower bract £ as 

 long as the upper, roundish; upper 5 to 7-nerved. 



Common in moist sandy soils along the coast and in moist places in 

 the interior. Geysers, Bolander; Point Reyes. June-July. 



4. CH/ETOCHLOA Scribn. 

 Annuals. Leaf-blades flat. Panicle spikelike, dense, cylindrical, 



