132 



FESTUCEAE 



59 ERAGROSTIS Bea 



Annual plants. 



Spikelfts broad, over 2 mm. wide. 1. E. major. 



ypikelets narrow, 1.5 mm. wide or less. 

 Low spreading plant, about a foot high, of- 

 ten only a few inches; leaves narrow; 

 flowers numerous in the spikelet; us- 

 ually found in cultivated fields in the 

 valleys. 2. E. pilosa. 



Plant taller, 1 to ;5 feet when mature; 

 leaves broader; flowers fewer in the 

 spikelet; usually seen in the mountains. 

 Panicle spreading, often nearly 1 foot 



long; spikelets 5 to 8 mm. long. 3. E. neo-niexicana. 



Panicle somewhat contracted, 4 inches 



long or less; spikelets 3 to G-mm. long. 4. E. 7nexicana. 



Perennial plants. 



Plant with rigid, scaly, rootstocks; having the 

 habit of .salt grass; leaves pungent point- 

 ed. '). E. obtusiflora. 

 Plants tufted, without i-ootstocks; leaves not 

 pungent pointed. 

 Spikelets crowded, on short branches. 

 Branches of panicle ascending: spikelets 

 conspicuously flattened, 8 to 40 

 flowered, broadly oblong, spreading 

 away from the branches; glumes 



reddish tinged. tj. E. secundiflora. 



Panicle widely spreading; spikelets not •■• 



much flattened 5- to 12-flowered, 

 narrowly ob'long, appressed; glumes 



green. 7. E. sessilispica. 



Spikelets few floweied and small, on the 

 ends of slender elongated branches. 

 Branches of tlie narrow and elongated 

 panicle long and flexuous, erect or 



nearly so; lateral nerves evident. S. E. trichodes. 



Branches of the rather open jianicle 

 spreading or ascending, rather rigid. 

 I^ateral nerves of the flowering glumes 

 faint; a common grass in the 

 mountains. '.i. E. litgens. 



Lateial nerves of the flowei'ing glumes 

 very iirominent; a rare grass com- 

 ing into this .^tate from Texas. 10. E. pectinacea. 



1. EragrOStis major Host, a tuo^t common annual grass 

 of the iiu.-~;is ;ii d \nllr\-> ( 1' llic s.uillicni part of the State; mostly 

 Lower Sonornn. 



2. EiagroStis pi!0Sa (L.) Beau v. With difficulty dis- 

 tiiiguislialile triiiii small plants of tjic iie.xt species; generally occurs 

 m the Low: r S nioi'aii Zodc wlr.'i' ■ it is a common summer annual. 



3. Eragrostis neo-mexicana Xasey. About the commonest 



