NATIVE GRASSES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. So 



during the summer rains, and this and the two species of I^ujjjw- 

 phorum may be classed in point of economic value with the 

 species of Aristida and Bouteloua, though apparently less com- 

 mon than these. 



Hilaria cenchroides, a i^erennial, not rare on hills, grows 

 freely, fruits during the dry months, from April to July, and 

 contributes a little to save stock from starvation. So likewise 

 does Muhlenhergla, both wiry but nutritious grasses. Under the 

 summer rains they grow more luxuriantly ; and the latter growing 

 in bushy clumps, retains in its wiry stems much nutriment, so 

 that it supplies the more common sort of hay in the towns and 

 at the stop stations, being pulled by the Mexicans or Indians, 

 and brought in on the backs of donkeys or on carts, even as late 

 as May, when it is gray with age. 



Poa annua var. stricta and Festuca iincrodadiys furnish v. 

 few tender bits of food to cattle following up the mountain 

 streams in spring. 



Beside streams of mountain canyons, Imperata Brasiliensi's 

 var. at any season furnishes tall, leafy clumps, to be eaten down 

 eagerly by the animals fortunate enough to attain to them. On 

 the higher slopes of the mountains, particularly in those turned 

 from the direct rays of the sun, and under the partial shade of 

 pines and oaks, I found in ^lay, Atroj^sis [Ghjceria) Calif or )iica 

 and Miihlenhergia virescens growing in clumps, standing so close 

 together as to remind one of a northern meadow. The former 

 furnishes the tenderest and sweetest of pasturage, and the latter 

 is a soft and leafy grass. These two species largely compose the 

 '•deer parks" of those mountains, but unfortunately for our horses, 

 while w^e were camping on the mountains they began at such an 

 altitude (6000 feet), that we could seldom get our horses up high 

 enough to take the benefit of them. 



In Arizona the coarse grass of the valleys was called by a 

 Spanish name, which sounded as I used to hear it pronounced 



