68 



creeping stems, rooting at thejoiuis, and sending np coarse, Irafy tnfts. The 

 Avliole plant is flotlied with soft hairs. The male and female llowers are bornt^ 

 ou separate plants, the latter in globnlar heads, which fall oflF at matnrity and 

 are driven over the sands by tin- winds, dropping their seeds as they roll along, 

 or are carried abont by the waves and deposited on newly formed sand bars, 

 there to continue the emljankiug process. It has no vahic for forage, but in 

 New South Wales is regarded a most useful grass for fixing drift sands when 

 encroaching upon valuable lauds. It is readily propagated by cuttings or joints 



of the stem.s, is of 

 comparatively (piick 

 growth, and is very 

 persistent when once 

 established. It would 

 doubtless bo of some 

 value on our own South 

 orn and Californian 

 coasts as a sand binder. 



No. 222. Sporobolus ai- 

 roide.s Torr. Alkali Sac- 

 caton. (Fig. 83.) 

 A stout ratlier coarse and 

 rigid grass, growing ou 

 tussocks in sandy and 

 more or less alkaline or 

 saline soils along rivers 

 and streams, ranging 

 from Montana south- 

 ward to Texas and 

 westward to Califor- 

 nia. It has a widely 

 s p r e a d i n g ]> a n i e 1 e, 

 more open than sacca- 

 ton, and the grass 

 rarely exceeds 2 feet in 

 height. In some places 

 in Nevada, I'tah, aud 

 New Mexico it occurs 

 abundantly, and yields 

 a coarse fodder, which 

 is eaten by stock wlien 

 more tentler grasses 

 are not available. 



No. 223. Sporobolus as- 



perifolius (Nees and 

 Mey.) Tlinrb. Fine-top 

 Salt-grass. 

 A low, somewhat creeping 

 grass, 6 to l."> inches high, with numerous short, spreading, acute leaves, and an 

 expanded eapillarv i»ani(le 'A to o inches long. It grows ou alkaline plains from 

 Texas ncjrthwest to itritish ('r)lnmbia, in similar situations as JHsticIiliii sphalu. 

 andlike that species often forms a dense, continuous turf. It grows well on 

 strongly alkaline soil, and may prove valuable for propagation on such lands. 



No. 224. Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) A. (iray. Dropseed. 

 Astronjily rooted jjereniiial, 2 to 3 feet high, with usually narrow, rather densely 

 dowered panicles, which are generally jtarti.dly inclosed within the upper Icaf- 



rio. 82. — Si)iiiy Iiolling-gr.i88 {Spini/cx hiisuUa) : a, nialo iuflores- 

 cence; 6, feiiialo iiilloreHceiice; a', iiinle spikelet; h', female 

 spikelct. 



