GRASS FAMILY 
203 
convolute lemma. (Greek stupa, tow, referring to the feathery awns of 
some species.) 
Ligule evident; terminal segment of awn mostly 4 cm. or more long....l. S. pulchra. 
Ligule minute ; terminal segment of awn mostly less than 2 cm. long.. .2. S’, lepida. 
1. S. pulchra Hitchc. Culms 6 to 9 dm. high; blades long, narrow, 
flat or involute; ligule about 1 mm. long; panicle about 15 cm. long, 
loose, the branches spreading, slender, some of the lower 2.5 to 5 cm. long; 
glumes narrow, long-acuminate, purplish, the first about 2 cm. long, the 
second 2 to 4 mm. shorter; lemma 8 mm. long, sparingly pilose; awn 
5 to 8 cm. long, short-pubescent to the second bend.—Open ground at 
low altitudes: common in the Coast Ranges; Sierra foothills; s. to San 
Diego Co. 
2. S. lepida Hitchc. Culms slender, puberulent below the nodes, 6 to 
9 dm. high; sheaths sparingly villous at throat; blades flat, narrow, 2 to 4 
mm. wide, pubescent on upper surface near base; panicle rather loose, 
usually 15 to 20 cm. or sometimes more than 30 cm. long, the branches 
distant, slender: glumes acuminate, the first 6 to 10 mm. long, the 
second about 2 mm. shorter ; lemma about 6 mm. long, sparingly villous, 
nearly glabrous toward the hairy-tufted apex; awn indistinctly twice 
bent, 2.5 to 4 cm. long, scabrous.—Open ground, Berkeley Hills to San 
Bernardino and San Diego. Var. andersonii (Vasey) Hitchc. Differs 
chiefly in the slender involute blades; plant on the average smaller, with 
narrower few-flowered panicles, the spikelets usually smaller.—About 
same range but extending n. to Mt. Shasta. 
24. POLYPOGON Desf. 
Plants usually decumbent, with flat blades and dense bristly spike-like 
panicles. Pedicel disarticulating a short distance below the glumes, 
leaving a short-pointed callus: glumes equal, entire or 2-lobed, awned 
from the tip or from between the lobes, the awn slender, straight; lemma 
much shorter than the glumes, hyaline, usually bearing a slender straight 
awn shorter than the awns of the glumes. (Greek polus, much, and 
pogon, beard.) 
Sheaths scabrous; panicles oblong, more or less interupted or lobed....l. P. lutosus. 
Sheaths smooth ; panicles soft, dense, spike-like.2. P. monspeliensis. 
1. P. lutosus (Poir.) Hitchc. Culms geniculate at base, 3 to 7.5 dm. 
high; lemma smooth and shining, 1 mm. long, minutely toothed at the 
truncate apex, the awn about as long as the glumes.—Waste ground, 
throughout the state, especially along irrigation ditches; nat. from Eur. 
2. P. monspeliensis (L.) Desf. Beard Grass. Culms erect or de¬ 
cumbent at base, scabrous below panicle, depauperate or as much as 9 
dm. long; panicles tawny-yellow; floret turgid, the awn slightly exceeding 
the body of the glumes.—Waste places, common along irrigation ditches; 
nat. from Eur. 
25. CYNODON Rich. 
Usually low perennials with creeping stolons or rhizomes, short blades, 
and several slender spikes digitate at the summit of the upright flowering 
culms. Spikelets 1-flowered, sessile, the rachilla prolonged behind the 
palea, sometimes bearing a rudimentary lemma. Glumes narrow, acumi¬ 
nate, 1-nerved, about equal, shorter than the floret. Lemma strongly 
