MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



421 



12. Oryzopsis hymenoides (Roem. and Schult.) Ricker. Indian 

 ricegrass. (Fig. 881.) Culms densely tufted, 30 to 60 cm tall; 

 ligule about 6 mm long, acute; blades slender, involute, nearly as long 



as the culms; panicle diffuse, 7 to 15 cm long, the 

 slender branches in pairs, the branchlets dicho- 

 tomous, all divaricately spreading, the ultimate 

 pedicels capillary, flexuous; glumes about 6 to 7 

 mm long, puberulent to glabrous, rarely hirsute, 

 papery, ovate, 3- to 5-nerved, abruptly pointed; 

 lemma fusiform, turgid, 

 about 3 mm long, nearly 

 black at maturity, densely 

 long-pilose with white 

 hairs 3 mm long; awn 

 about 4 mm long, straight, 

 readily deciduous. Qi — 

 Deserts and plains, med- 

 ium altitudes, Manitoba 



to British Columbia, south to Texas, California, 

 and northern Mexico (fig. 882). 



Figure 879. — Distribution of 

 Oryzopsis bloomeri. 



Nassella major (Trin. & Rupr.) Desv. Slender 

 figure sso-oryzopsii iweb- tufted perennial; blades narrow, flat or loosely 



ben. Panicle, X 1; floret, . n r .,' «i j er __ 1 + V.~ f n „ r 



x 5. (Hiiiman, Nev.) involute; panicle narrow, 3 to 5 cm long, the lew 



branches appressed, 1 to 1 .5 cm long; glumes 4 mm 

 long, awn-pointed; mature lemma flattish, obovate-oblong, gibbous 

 at apex, smooth and shining, 2 mm long; awn geniculate, 1 cm long, 

 soon deciduous. — Ballast, Portland, Oreg. Introduced from Chile. 



83. PIPTOCHAETIUM Presl 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, disarticu- 

 lating above the glumes, the callus 

 of the floret short, acutish, usually 

 bearded; glumes about equal, broad, 

 ovate, convex on the back, thin, 

 abruptly acuminate; fruit brown or 



Figure 882.— Distribution of 

 Oryzopsis hymenoides. 



dark gray, coriaceous, obovate, 

 shorter than the glumes, glabrous 

 or hispid above the callus, often 

 minutely striate, sometimes tuber- 

 figure 881— oryzopsis hymenoides. Panicle, x culate near the summit, the lemma 



l; floret, X 5. (Mearns 2583, Wyo.) turgid, USUally SOHiewhat COm- 



pressed and keeled on the back, gibbous near the summit back of 

 the awn, the edges not meeting but clasping the sulcus of the palea, 



