Illustrated Descriptions of the Grasses 



recess in which the 

 flower is embedded. 

 Stamens 3, anthers 

 orange colour, large. 

 Stigmas purple, long. 

 Moist soil, swamps, and borders 

 of streams. June to September. 

 Rhode Island to Florida, Texas, Mis- 

 souri, and Kansas. 



BEARD-GRASS, BROOM SEDGE, 



FORKED BEARD-GRASS, AND 



BUSHY BEARD-GRASS 



When the royal purple and gold 

 of asters and goldenrod paint the 

 waysides, and mark the turning to- 

 ward harvest of the tide of midsum- 

 mer, the Beard-grasses also appear as the 

 vanguard of autumn and show the advanc- 

 ing season as surely as do the more brilliant 

 flowers. In every state, from coast to coast, 

 these grasses grow, characteristic of dry, 

 sandy soils, and easy of recognition. The 

 species are looked upon with little favour 

 in the East, but in Western pastures, on 

 prairies and ranges, the Blue-stems, as these 

 plants are locally called, yield a valued her- 

 bage. 



Tufts of Beard-grass, the most common 

 of the genus in Eastern States, are fre- 

 quently seen by waysides, in sandy fields, 

 and near the borders of dry woods. This 

 grass, sometimes known as Indian Grass or 

 Little Blue-stem, is late in starting and the 

 leaves, often tinged with red and bronze, 

 are seldom noticeable until June. In July 

 the slender, rigidly erect stems appear, 

 usually bluish purple in colour and at last 

 fringed with small solitary spikes of hairy blossoms which hang 

 to the winds their orange and terra-cotta anthers and purple 



53 



Forked Beard-grass 

 Andropogon furcatus 



