GRASS FAMILY 



179 



7. Bouteloua gracilis (H. B. K.) Lag. 

 Blue Grama. Fig. 406. 



Chondrosium gracilc H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 176. pi. 5S. 



1816. 

 Atheropogoii oligostachxum Nutt. Gen. PI. 1: 78. 1818. 

 Bouteloua gracilis Lag'.; Steud. Norn. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 219. _1840. 

 Bouteloua oligostacliya Torr. ; Gray, Man. ed. 2. 553. 1856. 



Perennial ; culms erect, 15-45 cm. tall ; sheaths and 

 blades glabrous; spikes 1-3, 2-5 cm. long, usually a 

 little curved, persistent on the main axis, the rachis 

 not produced ; spikelets 5-6 mm. long, densely crowded, 

 pectinate: glumes persistent, narrow, the first about 

 half as long as the second, the latter sparsely papillose- 

 pilose on the keel; lemma pilose, 3-cleft, the lateral 

 divisions awned, the terminal 2-toothed, awned between 

 the teeth ; rudiment 3-awned, pilose at base, a second 

 rudimentary scale above. 



Plains and hills, Manitoba to Mexico, extending into southern 

 California. Type locality: Me.xico. 



8. Bouteloua hirsiita Lag. 

 Black Grama. Fig. 407. 



Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. Var. Cienc. 2*: 141. 1805. 



Perennial; culms erect, 20-40 cm. tall; sheaths 

 smooth ; blades sparsely papillose4iairy, especially on 

 the margins; spikes 1-4, 2-5 cm. long, persistent, the 

 rachis produced into a prominent point beyond the 

 uppennost spikelets ; glumes persistent, the first nar- 

 row, setaceous, the second acuminate, twice as long 

 as first and equaling the floret; conspicuously tuber- 

 culate-hirsute on the back; lemma pubescent, 3-cleft; 

 rudiment of 2 obtuse lobes and 3 equal awns, not 

 pilose at base. 



Mesas and dry hills, British Columbia to South Dakota, 

 south to Mexico, extending into southern California (Jamacha). 

 Type locality: Mexico. 



46. BECKMANNIA Host, Icon. Gram. Austr. 3: 5. />/. 5. 1805. 



Spikelets 1-flowered, rarelv 2-flowered, laterally compressed, subcircular, nearly sessile 

 and closely imbricate in 2 rows" along one side of a slender rachis, the pedicel disarticulatmg 

 below the glumes, the spikelet falling entire; glumes equal, inflated, obovate, 3-nerved, 

 rounded above but the apex apiculate ; lemma narrow, 5-nerved, acummate, about as long 

 as the glumes; palea 2-nerved, nearly as long as the lemma. An erect rather stout annua 

 with flat blades and numerous short pedunculate spikes m a narrow more or less interrupted 

 panicle. [Named for Johann Beckmann, teacher of natural history at St. Petersburg.] 



Species 1, in the cooler parts of America and Eurasia. Type species, Phalaris erucaeformis L. 



1. Beckmannia erucaeformis (L.) Host. 



Slough-grass. 



Fig, 



408. 



Phalaris erucaeformis L. Sp. PI. 55. 1753. 



Beckmannia erucaeformis Host, Icon. Gram. Austr. 3: 5. 1805. 



Beckmannia erucaeformis uniflora Scribn.; Wats. & Coult. in 

 A. Gray, Man. ed. 6. 628. 1890. 



Plants light green ; culms 30-100 cm. tall, branching 

 at the base; panicle 10-25 cm. long; spikes 1-2 cm. 

 long, erect or ascending; spikelets nearly circular, 3 

 mm. long; glumes with a deep keel, transversely 

 wrinkled, the acuminate apex of the lemma protrud- 

 ing. 



Swamps and ditches, cooler parts of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, extending south through Washington and Oregon to 

 San Francisco Bay. June-July. Type locality, European. 



