MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 409 



29. Sporobolus tharpii Hitchc (Fig. 853.) Perennial, densely 

 tufted; culms 60 to 100 cm tall; sheaths glabrous, the lower firm, 

 loose, shining; blades elongate, involute, flexuous, about 1 mm 



Figure 850. — Distribution of 

 Sporobolus wrightii. 



Figure 851.— Sporobolus texanus. Panicle, X 

 Yi, glumes and floret with caryopsis, X 10. 

 (Nealley, Tex.) 



Figure 852.— Distribution of 

 Sporobolus texanus. 



Figure 853.— Sporobolus tharpii. Panicle, X 1; 

 glumes and floret, X 10. (Type.) 



thick, tapering to a long fine point, long-ciliate at base; panicle open, 

 as much as 30 cm long, the branches stiffly ascending, the lower as 

 much as 15 cm long; spikelets appressed along the nearly simple 

 branches and branchlets, about 3 mm long; first glume narrow, 

 acuminate, about half as long as the spikelet, the second glume, 

 lemma, and palea acute, about equal. % — Known only from 

 Padre Island, Tex. 



77. BLEPHARONETJPvON Nash 



Spikelets 1-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes; 

 glumes subequal, rather broad; lemma 3-nerved, the nerves densely 

 silky villous; palea densely villous between the two nerves. Tufted 

 perennial, with open, narrow panicles. Type species, Blepharoneuron 

 tricholepis. Name from Greek blepharis, eyelash, and neuron, nerve, 

 alluding to the villous nerves of the lemma. 



