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HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



93b. Awns 3 — 5 cm. long; first glume 1.5 — 2 cm. long. Fig. 131. 



RIP-GUT GRASS Bromus rigidus Roth 



Annual; tufted; plant 40 — 70 cm. tall; leaf sheaths 

 and blades coarsely and sparsely hairy; ligules 

 3 — 7 mm. long, membranous, with a lacerated mar- 

 gin; panicles dense, with few spikelets. drooping, 

 7 — 15 cm. long, the lower branches only 1 — 2 cm. 

 long. Some variants have longer lower panicle 

 branches, hence a more open panicle. Spikelets 

 usually with 5 — 7 florets; glumes glabrous; lem- 

 mas scabrous or hairy; lateral teeth 3 — 5 mm. long; 

 awns strong, barbed. Because of the sharp calluses 

 and strong, stiff awns of the lemmas, the florets 

 readily penetrate the soft facial tissues of grazing 

 animals, inflicting bad puncture wounds around 

 the nose, mouth, and eyes, especially on sheep. 

 Frequently these become infected, resulting in pink 

 eye, cancer eye, or other disease conditions. The 

 common name, rip-gut grass, arises from these dan- 

 gerous properties of the florets. Poor, short-season 

 feed. Introduced from Europe; especially common 

 in California; rare in the eastern states. April — 

 August. 



Figure 131 



94a. Lemmas awned or rarely awnless, tapering to sharp points; callus 

 never bearing cottony hairs (see also Figs. 153 and 156) 95 



94b. Lemmas awnless, not very sharp-pointed; callus frequently cov- 

 ered with crimped, cottony hairs 104 



95a. Plants perennial, with hard bases; leaves flat or rolled or folded; 

 culms mostly 30 cm. tall or taller; stamens 3; florets opening at 



time of pollination. 



96 



69 



