82 



GRAMINEjE. 



rachilla with a prominent callus below each bractlet; bractlet 6 to 7 

 lines long, 5-nerved. the nerves, especially the marginal ones, ciliate- 

 hispid with short, stiff, rather distant, white hairs; awn stout, 

 straight, rough, about 10 lines long; palea membranaceous, promi- 

 nently keeled, ciliate above; scales 1^ lines long, ciliately fringed; 

 anthers 3 lines long, yellow. — (Gymnostichum californicum Boland.; 

 Asprella californica Benth.) 



Apparently confined to moist woodlands and thickets in the 

 redwood belt immediately north and south of San Francisco: San 

 Gregorio redwoods, San Mateo Co., Kellogg and Bran nan; Sausalito; 

 Santa Cruz Co.; Taylorsville; Olema; Inverness. Apr.-July. In 

 the young state the plant closely resembles an Elymus, and 

 entirely lacks the "bottle-brush"' aspect of its mature state; it can 

 always be distinguished, however, by the short, pedicel-like rachilla- 

 base of the spikelets, and the absence of bracts. 



46. HORDEUM L. Barley-grass. 

 Leaf-blades flat. Inflorescence a dense spike, jointed at the nodes 

 and breaking up at maturity, the spikelets remaining attached to the 

 hard, sharp, callus-like internode. Spikelets 1-flowered, in threes at 

 each joint jrf the rachis; the central sessile, perfect; the lateral, in 

 ours, pedicellate and usually sterile. Bracts often reduced to awns 

 and resembling an involucre around the spikelets, rigid. Rachilla 

 prolonged beyond the flower as a bristle. Bractlets chartaceous in 

 age, rounded on the back, 5-nerved at the apex, that of the perfect 

 spikelet, and sometimes all, awned. .Palea scarcely shorter than its 

 bractlet, 2-keeled. Stamens 3. Styles very short, distinct. Achene 

 hairy at the summit. (Hordeum the Latin name for Barley, the 

 typical plant of the genus.) 



Perennial; spike slender; awns appressed; bracts of all the spikelets bristle-like; 



bractlet of the ct- ntral spikelet 3 to 4 lines long 1. JET. nodosum. 



Annuals; spike stout, broad; awns rigid, erect or spreading; bracts not all 



bristle-like. 



Bracts of the central spikelet strongly pectinate-ciliate; spike 2 to 4 in. long. 



2. H. murinum. 



Bracts of the central spikelet not pectinate-ciliate; spike 1 to 2 in. long. 



3. H. maritimum. 



1. H. nodosum L. Meadow Barley-grass. Erect perennial; 

 stems £ to 3 ft. high; sheaths glabrous, often glaucous; ligule 

 truncate, \ to £ line long; blades 2J to 4 lines wide, often deflexed, 

 flat, scabrous, or scabrid above only;" spike 2| to 4th in. long, slender, 

 4 to 5 lines wide, compressed, usually nodding; awns appressed, 

 brown, tinting the whole spike; rachis very brittle; lateral spikelets 

 awnless, staminate or rudimentary, 2£ lines long, or reduced to an 

 empty bractlet; bracts all awnlike, scabrous; bractlet of central 

 spikelet awned, 7 to 9 lines long including the awn; scales 2, ovate, 

 obtuse, hyaline, ciliate above, £ line long; anthers yellow, £ line 

 long. — (H. pratense Huds.) 



Common by roadsides, in waste places and borders of fields, often 

 occurring in alkali soils. Common in Alameda, Contra Costa, San 



