448 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



tall; panicle narrow and usually rather compact, 5 to 10 cm long, or 

 longer in large plants; first glume 5 to 7 mm long, the second 8 to 

 10 mm long; lemma 6 to 9 mm 

 long, compressed toward the 

 scarcely beaked summit, sca- 

 brous on the upper part of the 

 keel; awns about equal (the 

 lateral rarely shorter) mostly 

 10 to 15 mm long, about 

 equally divergent at an angle 

 of as much as 45 degrees, flat 



Figure 951. — Aristida ramosissima, X 1. 

 18549, Ind.) 



(Deam 



Figure 950. — Distribution of 

 Aristida oligantha. 



and without torsion at base. 

 O — Dry open ground, Mis- 

 souri (Courtney); southern 

 Kansas to Texas, west to 

 Nevada and southern Cali- 

 fornia, southward (fig. 956); 

 warmer parts of the Old World. 

 Originally described from Ascen- 

 sion Island. Variable in size 

 from depauperate plants a few 

 centimeters tall with shorter contracted panicle (A bromoides 



H. B. K.) to tall slender plants 



with large open panicle (A. 



fasciculata Torr.). 



15. Aristida intermedia 



Scribn. and Ball. (Fig. 957.) 



Annual, simple or branched, 



20 to 40 cm tall; blades flat 



or involute, mostly less than 



10 cm long and 2 mm wide; 



panicle narrow, slender, loosely 



flowered, 10 to 20 cm long; 



glumes about equal, 1 cm 



long; lemma 8 mm long; awns 



about equal, all somewhat 



divergent, 1.5 to 2 cm long. 

 © — Low sandy soil, Indiana 



to Nebraska, south to Missis- 

 sippi and Texas (fig. 958). 

 The measurements of the spikelet are sometimes less than those 

 given, especially in plants attacked by smut. 





Figure 952.— Distribution of 

 Aristida ramosissima. 



Figure 953.— Aristida 

 longesp ica, X 1 

 (Vasey, D.C.) 



Figure 954.— Distribution of 

 Aristida longespica. 



