GRASS FAMILY. 



7!) 



base, 2£ to 3 ft. high, smooth; branches 2 to 3 from the base of each 

 stem; sheaths smooth or minutely scabrid; ligule regularly truncate, 

 entire, less than | line long; blade flat, narrower than the sheath, 

 auricled at the base, scabrid on both surfaces or the lower glabrous, 

 3 to 5 or rarely in very luxuriant specimens 7£ lines wide, acute; 

 uppermost 2£ to 4 in. long, lowest about 8 in. long; spike linear, 

 erect, 2\ to 5 or rarely 7 in. long, 2 J to 4 lines wide; rach is scabrid on 

 the margins; spikelets in pairs, rarely threes, appressed, 4 to 6 lines 

 long excluding awns, 3 to 4-flowered; bracts lanceolate, 4 to 6 lines 

 long, acuminate or awn-pointed, with 2 to 4 prominent scabrid nerves; 

 bracelets scabrid above, 5-nerved, lowest 4£ to 6 lines long, tapering 

 into a straight, erect, scabrid awn 3£ to 7 lines long; palea 4| to 5 

 lines long, scabrid, slightly emarginate; scales \ to 1 line long, lanceo- 

 late, acute, toothed on one side or the margins regularly curved, 

 sparingly ciliate; anthers nearly \\ lines long, purplish; achene "2\ to 



3 lines long. 



Thickets on open hillsides along the coast, common within our 

 limits: San Francisco, Bolander; Point Reyes; Berkeley. June- 

 July. 



Var. breviaristatus Davy, var. nov. Bracts6 to 9 lines long: awn 

 of the bractlet to 3 lines long. — Type locality: Point Reyes, Davy, 

 among sedges and brambles in swales; Bodega Point, Eastwood. 

 June-July. 



Var. Jepsoni Davy, var. nov. Lowest leaves retrorsely 

 pubescent. — Napa Valley, Jepson. 



Var. tenuis Vasey, is much more slender in every way; spikes 1£ 

 to 2£ lines wide.— It is not definitely recorded from within our limits, 

 but occurs in the Sacramento Valley northward to Mt. Shasta, Palmer; 

 Princeton. May. 



Var. maximus Davy, var. nov. Tall and stout; leaf-blades b\ to 

 8£ lines wide, sometimes glabrous in age; spike 7 in. long, 4 lines 

 wide, slightly drooping above; spikelets mostly 6-flowered; bracts 7 to 

 9 lines long, often 5-nerved; awn of the bractlet very variable, 4 to 

 12 lines long. — Napa Valley, Jepson; Bodega Point, Eastwood. 



6. E. hispidulus Davy, sp. nov. Hispid Wild-rye. Rootstock 

 stoloniferous; stem erect from a more or less arcuate base, about 3 ft. 

 high, rooting and branching from the lowest nodes; lowest sheaths 

 scabrid, uppermost retrorsely hispidulous; ligule of uppermost leaves 

 entire, rounded, about 1 line long; blades narrower than the sheath, 

 auricled at the base, scabrid on both surfaces and sparsely pubescent 

 below, H to 4 lines wide, 6 to 7 in. long; spike 4} in. long excluding 

 awns, 5 lines wide; spikelets in pairs, ascending, not closely appresseoT, 



4 to 6-flowered, the longest 10 lines long excluding awns; lowest 

 internode of the raehilla about 1 line long, pubescent; bracts 5£ lines 

 long, lanceolate-subulate, awn-pointed, 3-nerved, scabrous; lowest 

 bractlet 7 lines long with an awn its own length, hispidulous above. 

 5-nerved, palea \ line shorter, pubescent and emarginate above, 

 scabrid on the keels; scales f to 1 line long, pubescent and ciliate, 

 unevenly lobed near the base on one side only; anthers 1£ lines long. 



