FESTUCEAE 125 



Oats and arc CLUisiiLrcd valuable forage i)lants. Of the thir- 

 teen species and varieties listed further on, four are intro- 

 duced cultivat«-d species. Of these Bromus unioloidcs is a 

 jrood spring- and early sun nier annual. It escap'cd years ago 

 on tlio Agricultural College farm and has appeared each 

 spring, before anything else commenced to grow, along the 

 ditches and beside the walks. Tlu iilant is of course no com- 

 petitor with alfalfa l)ut it should be valuable at higher levels 

 wliere a short seasor; grass is necessary. It should grow well 

 where oats will. L'.\'.\f<mf.I! IIko,..)-: ( Bromus iucrmis), B. 

 racciitosiis and B. sccaliiiiis (Cheat), have all been tried at 

 \'arious places with varying degrees of success. They all 

 prefer the cooler and moister o Jiuliiion'; anrl nirmt i if them will 

 grow in the ^timbered areas. 



Of the native speci'cs and varieties there are two gen- 

 eral types that are easily recognized. One has upright and 

 rather stiffly spreading panicles and flattened spikelets, the 

 spikelets spreading or bending downward a little : die other has 

 a weakly nodding panicle with all the spikelets hanging down- 

 ward and the s])ikelets themselves almost spindle-shaped. 

 To the former group are to be ref;;rred the varieties of Bromiis 

 luargiiiatus (bo^rh of which are rather rare in New Mexico) 

 and B. polyantluts and its \aricty. which are quits common in 

 the mountains in the timbered areas. 



Bromus portcri and its close relatives B. lanatipes and 

 B. frond osus are the species of the other type that occur in 

 New Mexico, and the first is quite common. In the opinion 

 of the autliovs these grassts ha\-e not receix'ed sufficient at- 

 tention a. ha\- grasses in our mountain areas. They are 

 perennials, possibly only short lived, but they grow very 

 readily in all the small cultivated valleys and "parks" of the 

 timbered areas of our higher mountains. In the cultivated 

 fields and gardens of these levels they are to be found grow- 

 ing as "weeds," tlnis indicating how readily they would grow 

 if cultivated. They are rather coarse grasses 2 to 21^ feet 

 tall with abundance of leaves and stool out considerably. 



