MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



151 



axils; spikelets gray to nearly black, linear, scarcely compressed, 

 3- to 9-flowered, 3 to 5 mm long, about 1 mm wide, the pedicels 

 spreading, mostly longer than the spikelets ; glumes acute, the first a 

 little less than, the second a little more than, 1 mm long; lemmas 

 loosely imbricate, the rachilla more or less exposed, rounded on the 

 back, acute, 1.2 to 1.5 mm long, 0.5 mm wade from keel to margin, the 

 nerves obscure; grain 0.6 mm long. O — Moist open ground and 

 waste places, Massachusetts to Colorado, south to Florida and Texas, 



south through Mexico and West Indies 



to Argentina; California (fig. 294); 



introduced from Europe. 



Eragrostis virescens Presl. Annual; 



culms slender, 50 to 60 cm tall; blades 

 > & 3 to 6 mm wide ; panicle open, about one 



third the entire height of the culm, the 



lower branches 



mostly solitary, 



the axils glabrous 



or nearly so; 



bran c hie ts and 



spikelets some- 

 what appressed 



Figure 291.— Eragrostis frankii. Panicle, n loner thfi nrimnrv 

 X 1; floret, X 10. (Chase 2005, 111.) f lull e , c * JI ., ■> 



branches; spike- 

 lets linear, mostly 7- to 9-flowered, 4 to 5 mm long, pale or greenish, 

 about 1 mm wdde ; low T er lemmas scarcely 1.5 mm long, o — Ballast, 

 Apalachicola, Florida ; Chile. Resembling E. diffusa; spikelets smaller. 

 17. Eragrostis pectinacea (Michx.) Nees. (Fig. 295.) Resem- 

 bling E. pilosa; panicles less delicate, the axils glabrous or obscurely 

 pilose, the somewhat larger spikelets appressed along the branches 

 and branchlets, often longer than the pedicels; spikelets at maturity 

 mostly linear, 5 to 8 mm long; lemmas 1.5 to 1.6 mm long, the 



rachilla not or scarcely exposed, 

 the nerves evident; grain 0.8 mm 



Figure 292.— Distribution of 

 Eragrostis frankii. 



Figure 294.— Distribution of 

 Eragrostis pilosa. 



Figure 293.— Eragrostis pilosa. Panicle, X 1; floret 

 and palea, X 10. (Ruth 514, Tex.) 



long, o (E. caroliniana (Spreng.) 

 Scribn.; E. purshii Schrad.) — ■ 

 Fields, waste places, open ground, moist places, Maine to North 

 Dakota, south to Florida and eastern Texas, rare in the Western 

 States (fig. 296). The name E. pectinacea has been misapplied to 

 E. spectabilis. 



18. Eragrostis diffusa Buckl. (Fig. 297.) More robust than 

 E. pectinacea, usually 30 to 50 cm tall, sometimes taller; panicle 

 larger, the primary branches bearing appressed secondary branches 

 with few to several spikelets, the main panicle branches thus more 



