GRASS FAMILY 



187 



4. Eragrostis caroliniana (Spreng.) Scribn. 

 Carolina Eragrostis. Fig. 424. 



Poa cai-oliuiana Spreng. Mant. Fl. Hal. 33. 1807. 

 Eragrostis f^iirshii Schrad. Linnaea 12: 451. 1838. 

 Eragrostis carolituana Scribn. Mem. Torrey Club 5: 49. 1894. 

 Eragrostis pilosa of Jepson's Flora, not Beauv. 



Annual ; culms erect, decumbent at base or pros- 

 trate-spreading, 15-40 cm. tall, diffusely branched at 

 base; sheaths sparingly pilose at summit; blades 2- 

 10 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide ; panicle diffuse. 7-20 cm. 

 long, the "lower axils sparingly bearded ; spikelets 

 5-18-flowered, becoming linear, '4-8 mm. long, about 

 1.5 mm. wide, equaling or shorter than the pedicels; 

 glumes 1-nerved, smooth except the keel, the first 1 

 mm., the second 1.5 mm. long; lemmas smooth, 

 slightly scabrous on keel, the lower about 1.5 mm. 

 long, .'5 mm. wide, the lateral nerves distinct but not 

 prominent. 



Fields, waste places, and open ground, Maine to Minnesota 

 and south to Mexico. In California, San Luis Obispo and 

 Tulare Counties southward; also Humboldt County {Tracy). 

 July-Aug. Type locality: North Carolina. 



5. Eragrostis orcuttiana \'asey. 

 Orcutt's Eragrostis. 



Fig. 425. 



Eragrostis orcuttiana Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1: 269. 

 i893. 



Resembling E. mexicana; differing in the more 

 slender, usually arcuate spikelets on shorter flexuous 

 pedicels ; spikelets 5-6 mm. long, .7-1 mm. wide ; 

 glumes short, the first 1 mm., the second 1.5 mm. 

 long ; lemmas scarcely .5 mm. wide. 



Fields and waste places, known only from California (e.x- 

 cept on ballast at Linnton, Oregon). July-Get. Type locality: 

 San Diego. 



6. Eragrostis mexicana (Lag.) Link. 



Mexican Eragrostis. 



Fig. 426. 



Poa mexicana Lag. Gen. & Sp. Nov. 3. 1816. 

 Eragrostis mexicana Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 190. 



1827. 



Annual ; culms erect or spreading, 30-60 cm. tall ; 

 sheaths hairy at the throat; blades often elongate; 

 panicle large and diffuse, glabrous in the axils, 15- 

 30 cm. long; spikelets 4-6 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, 

 mostly 6-12-flowered, the pedicels slender, flexuous, 

 mostly longer than the spikelet ; glumes acuminate, 

 the second about 2 mm. long ; lemmas smooth, the 

 lower 2 mm. long, .7 mm. wide, the lateral nerves 

 not prominent. 



A weed in fields and waste places, New Mexico and 

 southern California (Los Angeles, Riverside) to Mexico. 

 Sept.-Oct. Type locality: Mexico. 



