MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



569 



Figure 1187.— Distribution 

 Eriochloa gracilis. 



of 



igure 11S8 — Distribution of 

 Eriochloa contractu. 



brous, mostly 5 to 10 mm wide; racemes several to numerous, approxi- 

 mate, ascending to slightly spreading, 2 to 4 cm long, the axis and 

 rachis softly pubescent, the pedicels short-pilose; spikelets 4 to 5 mm 

 long, rather sparsely appressed-pubescent, acuminate, or the glume 



sometimes tapering into 

 an awn-point as much as 

 1 mm long; sterile lemma 

 empty ; fruit about 3 mm 

 long, apiculate. © 

 Open ground, often a 

 weed in fields, western 

 Texas to southern Cali- 

 fornia, south through the 

 highlands of Mexico (fig. 1187). (This species has been referred to 

 E. acuminata (Presl) Kunth, an unidentified species of Mexico.) 



Eriochloa gracilis var. minor (Vasey) Hitchc. Mostly smaller, 

 with more crowded, less acuminate spikelets, the pedicels with a few 

 long hairs at the summit, fertile lemma about as long as the glume 

 and sterile lemma (excluding the short points), obtuse or slightly 

 apiculate. o — Open ground, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

 6. Eriochloa contracta Hitchc. Prairie cupgrass. (Fig. 1186, 

 B.) Annual; culms 

 erect or sometimes 

 decumbent at base, 

 pubescent at least 

 about the nodes, 30 

 to 70 cm tall; blades 

 pubescent, usually 

 not more than 5 mm 

 wide; panicle usual- 

 ly less than 15 cm 

 long, contracted, 

 cylindric, the ra- 

 cemes appressed, 

 closely overlapping, 

 1 to 2 cm long, the 

 axis and rachises 

 villous; spikelets 3.5 

 to 4 mm long, exclud- 

 ing the awn-tip, ap- 

 pressed- villous ; 

 glume awn-tipped ; 

 sterile lemma slightly 

 shorter, acuminate, 

 empty; fruit 2 to 2.5 

 an awn nearly 1 mm 



Figure 1189.— Eriochloa 

 punctata. Panicle, X 1; 

 floret, X 10. (Hitchcock 

 9661, Jamaica.) 



Figure 1190.— Erioch lor. michauxii. Plant, 

 X 1; floret, X 10. (Amer. Gr. Nat. Herb. 

 297, Fla.) 



mm long, with 



lone 



O — Open ground, 



ditches, low fields, and wet places, Kansas to Louisiana and New 

 Mexico; introduced in Missouri and Virginia (fig. 1188). Differing 

 from E. gracilis in the pubescent foliage, subcylmdric panicle, and the 

 awned fruit. 



7. Eriochloa punctata (L.) Desv. (Fig. 1189.) Perennial; culms 

 in tufts, usually 50 to 100 cm tall; blades flat, mostly 5 to 10 mm wide, 



