60 AGROSTIDEAE 



out the Sacramento ^lountaiii region where the grass is fairly 

 common at elevations of 6500 feet or more in the bottoms of 

 the open mountain canons where the soil is tolerably wet. 

 Where the range has been heavily stocked with cattle the grass 

 has spread i)retty ra] idlv as the result of killing out the other 

 g-rasses which successfully compete with it for place. Stipa 

 vase\i occurs in thie mountains of the northern part 

 of the State in and ari)und l.as \'egas, at Taos and 

 near Chama Imt repeated inquiries in these regions were never 

 rewarded with any knowdedge of any plant called Sleepy 

 Grass. The grass is not eaten by stock in that region an)" 

 more than farther south, but at Taos some of tlie Mexican 

 Avomen gather it and tie it into bundles of convenient size and 

 use them as whisk l)rooms for cleaning the hearth and abcuit 

 the house. The absence of any reports of Sleepy Grass in 

 this region made the authors doubt the correctness of their 

 field dete'-minaticns of the species, but comparisons of the 

 grass of the northern mountains with that of the Sacramento 

 Mountains demonstrated their identitx'. 



Sfif^a Z'iridiila is \ery like Ji". z^ascyi and from the stand- 

 point of the stockman would not be recognized as separate. 

 It ranges farther north being the more common of the two in 

 Colorado. Stif^a ui'uior and Stipa scribncri have somewhat 

 the same aspect l)ut are smaller and bv no means so common. 

 They are pro1)ably eaten b_\' stock wherexer they occur. The 

 last four species named all have rather short and inconspicuous 

 awns, rarely o\er half an inch long, but they are twisted and 

 somewhat lient as in the other species listed. Following is a 

 list of the 10 species that occur in the State with their distrT- 

 bution. Number 3. Stipa tcjuiissiiiia is very rare and is bot- 

 anically (|uite interesting since it lacks the character which is 

 most peculiar of all Stipas. The awn is not tv^dsted above the 

 seed but is bent and curled above the bend. It is a bunch grass 

 about 18 (ir 20 inches high forming a large dense tuft, the 

 leaves l)eing as tall as the ])anicle of very long-awned spike- 

 lets. 



