SEDGE FAMILY. 



83 



Francisco, Marin, and Santa Cruz Cos. Mch.-May, or sometimes 

 even as early as December. 



2. H. murinum L. Babley-gbass. Annual; stems 6 to 24 in. 

 high, decumbent at base, or in moist, shady places erect; upper 

 sheaths glabrous, light green, scarious-margined, often inflated; lower 

 pilose; ligule \ to f line long, truncate; blade both softly pubescent 

 and scabrous, 1 to b\ lines wide; spikes 2 to 4 in. long, broad, stout, 

 compressed; awns erect; spikelets densely imbricate; bracts awned; 

 those of the central spikelet lanceolate, flat, 3-nerved, ciliate, with 

 awns 9 to 12 lines long; those of the lateral spikelets similar, 

 excepting the inner which are awn-like and not ciliate; bractlet 

 scabrous at the apex, about 6 lines long, its awn § to 2 in. long; 

 bractlets of the lateral spikelets somewhat smaller, awn £ to 2 in. 

 long; palea emarginate, somewhat webby within, keels distantly 

 ciliate; scales of the sterile spikelets very prominent, 1£ lines long; 

 anthers broad, £ line long, green. 



Native of Europe; naturalized and now very common throughout 

 middle and southern California, and spreading northward: Spring 

 Valley, San Francisco, 1862, Bolander; Antioch; Berkeley; etc. 

 Apr.-May. Often miscalled Fox-tail. 



3. H. maritimum With. Seaside Barley-grass. A slender 

 glaucous annual of salt-marshes and alkali soils; inner bracts of the 

 lateral spikelets obliquely lanceolate, £ line wide. 



Reported as occurring along the coast of Washington, Oregon, and 

 California, but perhaps confused with var. Gussonianum. 



Yar. Gussonianum Husn. (H. Gussonianum Pari.) Gussoni's 

 Barley-grass. Slender annual, 4 to 12 in. high; spike 1 to 1£ in. 

 long, excluding the awns; lateral spikelets reduced to rudiments; 

 flower of central spikelet sessile; bracts of the central spikelet seta- 

 ceous, the inner one of the lateral spikelets slightly flattened, \ line 

 wide, not at all ciliate. — Naturalized from S. Europe and now very 

 common throughout the State: Berkeley; Olema; Bodega Point, and 

 elsewhere. Apr.-May. 



4. CYPERACE/E. Sedge Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs of marshy or damp places. Stems solid, 

 arising from rootstocks, triangular or terete, the upper internode 

 below the inflorescence generally very long. Leaves often arranged 

 in 3 rows, sheathing at base, the sheath closed, seldom split; ligule 

 none or very small. Flowers in spikelets, solitary and sessile in the 

 axils of imbricated glume-like bractlets, and disposed in 2 or more 

 ranks; spikelets solitary or clustered, or arranged in spikes, racemes, 

 panicles or umbels, and subtended by leafy bracts, or naked. Perianth 

 none or represented by usually 4 to 6 bristles. Stamens 3. Pistil 1; 

 ovary 1-celled, the single style 2 or 3-cleft. Fruit a lenticular or more 

 or less triangular achene. (The specific keys and descriptions in this 

 family have been done by Mr. J. Burtt Davy.) 



