GRASS FAMILY 



145 



3. Sporobolus asperifolius Nees & Mey. 

 Rough-leaved Uropseed. Fig. 318. 



Vitfa ast^erifoluts Nees & Mey.; Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 

 VI. Sci. Xat. 4>: 95. 1840. 



Sporobolus asferifolius Nees & Mey. Nov. Act. Acad. Caes. Leop. 

 Carol. 19: 141. 1843. 



Perennial from creeping rhizomes ; culms 30-60 cm. 

 tall, ascending from a creeping or decumbent base; 

 sheaths smooth, keeled; blades flat, 2.5-5 cm. long, 

 about 2 mm. wide, scabrous ; panicles diffuse, tardily 

 exserted from the uppermost sheath, oval, 10-15 cm. 

 long; spikelet 1.5 mm. long, the glumes slightly un- 

 equal, a little shorter than the spikelet. 



Meadows and wet places, Upper Sonoran Zone; British Co- 

 lumbia to California, east to North Dakota and south into 

 Mexico; also in South America. July-Aug. Type locality : Chile. 



4. Sporobolus asper (Michx.) Kunth. 

 Long-leaved Rush-grass. Fig. 319. 



Agrostis aspera Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 52. 1803. 

 Agrostis composita Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 1: 254. 1810. 

 Agrostis longifolia Torn Fl. North. & Mid. U. S. 1: 90. 1823. 

 Sporobolus asper Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 68. 1829. 

 Sporobolus longifolius Wood, Class-book, 775. 1861. 

 Sporobolus compositus Merr. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. 

 Circ. 35: 6. 1901. 



Culms erect, glabrous, 40-150 cm. tall, mostly 

 single; blades 10-40 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, atten- 

 uate to a long slender involute point; panicle spike- 

 like, usually partly included in the uppermost sheath, 

 7-20 cm. long; spikelets 5-6 mm. long; glumes 

 unequal, shorter than the lemma; lemma and palea 

 equal, obtuse. 



Dry soil, Washington (Kittitas County), east to Maine 

 and south to Texas. September. Type locality: Illinois. 



5. Sporobolus airoides Torr. 

 Alkali Saccaton, Hair-grass Dropseed. 



Fig. 320. 



Agrostis airoides Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1: 151. 1824. 

 Sporobolus airoides Torr. Pac. R. Rep. 7^: 21. 1856. 



Perennial; culms densely cespitose, forming large 

 tussocks, smooth, stout, spreading at base, 30-80 cm. 

 tall ; sheaths smooth, sparsely pilose at the throat ; 

 blades involute, elongate, the upper short; panicles dif- 

 fuse, hnally about half the length of the entire plant; 

 spikelets 1.5-2 mm. long, obtuse; glumes unequal, the 

 first oval, half as long as spikelet, the second as long 

 as spikelet. 



Bottom lands and valleys, often in saline or alkaline soil in 

 the Upper Sonoran Zone; Washington (Okanogan River, near 

 Oroville), south to Cnlifornia and Mexico, east to South Dakota. 

 April-July (sometimes flowernig in autumn). Type locality: 

 Colorado. 



