194 
GRAMINEAE 
species.—Range about as in the last, less common. Var. linearis Shear. 
Sheaths pubescent; blades less than 2 mm. wide; panicle narrow, few- 
flowered.—Berkeley Hills; Mt. Lyell, above timber-line. 
11. B. vulgaris (Hook.) Shear. Culms 9 to 12 dm. high; nodes pubes¬ 
cent; sheaths pilose; blades scattered, more or less pilose; panicle open, 
10 to 18 cm. long, the branches slender, drooping; spikelets slender, about 
2.5 cm. long; glumes narrow, sparsely pubescent, the first 1-nerved, acute, 
the second 3-nerved, broader and longer than the first, obtuse or acutish; 
lemmas 8 to 10 mm. long, sparsely pubescent over back, pubescent or 
ciliate near the margins or nearly glabrous; awn 6 to 8 mm. long.— 
Rocky woods and shady ravines, 100 to 7000 ft. 
2. FESTUCA L. Fescue 
Annuals or perennials. Spikelets few to several-flowered. Glumes 
narrow, acute, unequal, the first sometimes very small. Lemmas rounded 
on the back, membranaceous or somewhat indurate, 5-nerved, the nerves 
often obscure, acute or rarely obtuse, awned from the tip or rarely from 
a minutely bifid apex. (Ancient name for some grass.) 
Plants annual; branches of the narrow panicle erect or appressed : spikelets loosely 
1 to 5-flowered; florets narrowly lanceolate; first glume 1-nerved, not 
more than as long as the second 3-nerved glume ; stamen usually 1 ; 
lemmas with narrow scarious margin. 
Lemma ciliate ... 1 . F. megalura. 
Lemma not ciliate.2. F. niyuros. 
Plants perennial; blades usually folded or involute, narrow or capillary; throat 
of sheath (collar) and auricles of blade tomentose or bristly. 
3. F. californica. 
1. F. megalura Nutt. Culms 2 to 6 dm. high; sheaths and blades 
smooth; panicle narrow, somewhat 1-sided, 8 to 20 cm. long; spikelets 4 
or 5-flowered; glumes glabrous, the first about half the length of the 
second; lemmas scabrous above, attenuate into an awn about twice its 
length.—Cultivated or open ground, sandy soil, and waste places. The 
cilia on the lemmas are sometimes hidden at maturity by the incurved 
edges. 
2. F. myuros L. Rat’s-tail Fescue. Similar to no. 1 but lemmas 
not ciliate.—Waste grounds; nat. from Eur. 
3. F. californica Vasey. California Fescue. Culms tufted, stout, 
coarse, usually 9 to 15 dm. high, scabrous ; sheaths somewhat scabrous, 
the collar and auricles pilose; blades flat or becoming involute, hard, firm, 
scabrous, the lower elongate; panicle large, usually loose and open, the 
few long slender branches naked below, bearing a few spikelets toward 
the ends; spikelets compressed, about 5-flowered, 10 to 18 mm. long; 
glumes oblong-lanceolate, firm, smooth, except the scabrous keel; lemmas 
8 to 10 mm. long, lanceolate, firm, scabrous, acuminate or short-awned.— 
Meadows, shady banks and wood borders; Coast Ranges from Monterey 
Co. to Siskiyou Co. Var. parishii (Piper) Hitchc. Plant more slender : 
culms about 4.5 to 6 dm. tall; sheaths puberulent; blades 1.5 to 2.5 dm. 
long, closely involute, smooth below or nearly so; panicle 10 to 12 cm. 
long; awn 3 to 4 mm. long.—San Bernardino Mts. 
3. POA L. Blue Grass 
Plants with open or contracted panicles, and narrow blades with boat- 
