Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 5, Pt. 2

APPENDIX.
voribus. Between the Tejon Pass and the Lost Hills of California. This grass is not uncom mon in New Mexico and western Texas, where it is used by the natives for stuffing pads for
loaded mules, its soft thread-like culms making it admirably fit for this purpose. Mr. Blake's
specimens are nearly two feet long, which is twice its usual length. In the young flowers the
glumes are scarcely one-third the length of the pales, but at maturity, they are commonly onehalf their length. It belongs to a group of the genus that includes V. Virginica, Line. and V.
Mlatrella, -ees. It is also nearly related to V. humifusa, Hook., but that has unequal glumes,
the upper one nearly as long as the palee, or sometimes one-third shorter. No. 958, of Feudler's New Mexican collection, and No. 1983, of Wright's, are the same as the Californian plant,
differing only in the more rigid leaves, and somewhat more acute paled.
Another, and apparently new, Vilfa was found by Mr. Blake, at the head of Tulare Valley,
but his specimens are rather imperfect, and we defer giving it a name for the present. It is
an erect grass, about six feet high, simple, with narrow, convolute leaves, and scabrous sheaths.
The panicle is two feet long, and much contracted. The spikelets are lanceolate, and nearly
terete, scabrous under a lens. Glumes equal, rounded on the back, one-fourth shorter than the
lanceolate, rather acute palese; the inferior paled a little hairy at the base. No. 1993, of
Wright's collection, is near this species, but it differs in the glabrous flowers, and the pales a
little shorter than the glumes, without any hairiness at the base.
POLYPOGON MONSPELIENSIS, Desf. Var.? MONOLEPIS: palea inferiore setam infra apicem exserente
glumis duplo longiorem, superiore nulla. Pose Creek, Walker's Pass; August. Culm terete,
simple. Leaves flat, and with the sheaths puberulous; ligule oblong. Panicle oblong, dense
and spiciform, somewhat interrupted. Glumes equal, acuminate, and cuspidate; serrulate on
the keel. Inferior palea scarcely more than half as long as the glumes, 4-toothed at the summit, with an awn arising above the middle of the back nearly twice the length of the glumes
the upper palea wanting, or extremely minute. If the characters here given prove to be constant, this is probably a distinct species from P. Monspeliensis.
MUHLENBERGIA DIFFUSA, Schreb. Gram. 2, t. 51. Var. aristis multo longioribus. Tulare Valley.
Perhaps a distinct species.
ERIOCOMA CUSPIDATA, Nutt. Gen. 1, p. 30. Urachne lanata, Trin. -et. Petrop. 1834, p.126.
"Grows in bunches, on plains; October.", Mr. Blake has not recorded the precise station of
this grass, bilt we have never received it before from any part of California.
ARISTIDA HUMBOLDTIANA, Trin. & Ru]pr. Stip. p. 118? Head of Tulare Valley, California;
September. Culm apparently tall, glabrous; sheaths smooth, hairy at the throat. Panicle
erect, pyramidal, about a foot long, the branches solitary, in pairs, or semiverticillate; the
divisions appressed and racemose. Glumes slightly unequal; the lower one about 4 lines long,
the upper l1 a line longer, cuspidate. Paled a little exceeding the glumes. Lateral seth as
long as the flowers, the central somewhat longer, equally spreading, straight. W~e are by no
means confident that the species is correctly determined.
BOUTELUNA (CIIONDROSIUM) POLYSTAcIIYA, Benth. Boa. Suiph. p. 56; Torr. inZ Ernory'8 Reap. p.
153. Hill-sides, on thle Colorado, and in the desert west. There are usually 4 or 5 spikes, but
sometimes only 3. At each joint of the spikes there are two kinds of spikelets; the lower one
i-flowered; the upper sesquiflorous. The rudimentary flower is sometimes reduced to 3 awus,
with a tuft of hairs at their common base. (Tab. X.)
MiEGASTACRYA-near Mt. conferta (Poa conferta, Bil.) Kern River, Tule; August. Cuim
2-3 feet high. Leaves narrow, convolute when old, glabrous, as is also the sheath. Panicle
366