CHLORIDEAE 101 



descriptive adjective) and the former name would seem to 

 fit this grass about as well as it does any of the Gramas, 

 because the little "flags" or spikes are a dark purplish color 

 when they are about mature. The name Hairy Grama is 

 fully as appropriate however, as the spikes are quite noticeably 

 hairy with slender stiffish spreading hairs, more so than any 

 other of our perennial species. In south central and south- 

 western New Mexico Bonteloiia eriopoda (woolly footed, the 

 specific name means, on account of the woolliness of the lower 

 sheaths) is known as Black Grama and it is to that grass that 

 the name is here applied. The authors are utterly unable to 

 say whether it was first applied to this species or not. It 

 certainly is not very applicable smce the grass is never black 

 or even dark colored. These common names will continue to 

 be applied as they are now in the regions indicated and there 

 is no means of correcting the usage if such correction were 

 necessary: but it seems wise to call attention to the dis- 

 crepancies. It seems necessary psychologically, for people 

 in this Southwestern region to have a "Black Grama" grass of 

 some kind just as they must have a "gteasewood" and a "sage 

 brush" irrespective as to whether these plants grow in the 

 region or not, and this mental attitude no doubt gives rise 

 to the varied usage of the name. 



Black Grama (Bonteloua eriopoda) of the southern 

 and southwestern part of the State is a branching perennial 

 with rather weak, spreading stems, bent and angling upwards 

 from a prostrate joint or two at the base. It is moderately 

 leafy, about a foot high, has 3 to 6 slender, loosely-flowered 

 spikes that are not very strikingly one-sided as in some of 

 the other species; it is easily recognized by the thick woolly 

 coating all over the lower joints of the stems. It extends into 

 New Mexico from Chihuahua and forms an important 

 constituent of the range over much of the southern fourth of 

 the former State on the lower mesas and plains. Before this 

 region was heavily stocked it was quite abundant in many 

 places especially on the sandy soils where other grasses are 



