184 Naturalized Plants. — [ ZOE 
others it is a native of southern Europe, a region which has so lib- 
erally supplied our exotic flora. It is quite a conspicuous grass, 
the panicles, and indeed the whole plant, being usually of a very 
dark purple color. The only known station is at Fort Tejon in Kern 
County, where it is abundant under the noble oaks that embower 
the crumbling buildings of that deserted post. &. secalinus, the 
well-known “cheat” of farmers, although usually found wherever 
grain grows, has not yet-been detected in this region. 
Eragrostis pilosa is widespread in the Eastern States of the Union, 
being found, according to the Manual, from ‘‘southern New Eng- 
land to Illinois, and southward.’’ To this extended range Califor- 
nia may now be added, it having been found in 1882 growing along 
the embankment of an irrigating canal, near Santa Ana, Orange 
County. 
Polypogon Monspeliensis is sometimes called ‘‘ Foxtail,’ from a 
fancied resemblance of its dense panicle to the bushy tail of that 
animal. It is a common grass throughout all this region, but not 
‘‘ chiefly in the mountains,” as Dr. Thurber supposed.* It is in- 
deed to be found there, but it mostly abounds in the meadows and 
pastures of lower altitudes, and especially in those places where the 
soil contains a taint of alkali. Although stock will eat it in its ear- / 
lier stages, it has little economic value, and in a riper condition is 
very annoying by reason of the abundant awns, which work in 
about the teeth of animals feeding on it. 
Hordeum murinum is equally abundant, and even more pestifer- 
ous. It shares the name of Foxtail with the former species, but is 
more frequently called Squirrel Grass. It is especially abundant in 
pastures which have been overstocked, where ‘“‘partly because of 
its worthlessness when green, partly because it is an enemy to stock 
when ripe, and partly because of its means for dissemination and 
self-planting, this pernicious species can hold its own where better 
kinds are exterminated.’’}+ The ripe heads fall to pieces, and by 
‘means of their barbed awns attach themselves to the hair or wool of 
_ domestic animals, causing irritation and sores, and even penetrating | 
.the flesh. In the mouth they give rise to extensive ulceration of the 
gums, the ulcers becoming filled with dense masses of awns, making 
eM Boty Gaby Rpayeperes de ke ee 
tBrewer, Pasturage and Forage Plants, p. 9. 
