358 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 



1-flowered, flattened laterally; tlie glumes linear-lanceolate and awl- 

 pointed, tlie upper one very rough on tlie keel, and twice tlie length of 

 tlie lower. The two paicts are nearly equal, and about the L'ngth of the 

 lower glume. (See Plate XXII.) 



MUHLENBEEGIA GLOlttERATA. 



This grass grows in wet swampy grounds, chiefly in the northern and 

 western portions of the United States. It is found in Colorado, Utah, 

 and Nevada, and some varieties of it in Texas and New IMexico. 



The typical form is 2 to 3 feet high, stiffly erect and unbranched, gen- 

 erally purphsh below the joints. The culm is hard, somewhat compressed, 

 and very leafy. The panicle is narrow, 2 to 4 inches long, comi)osed of 

 numerous close clusters of flowers, becoming looser, and sometimes inter- 

 rupted below, forming an interrupted glomerate spike. The spikelets 

 are 1-flowered and closely sessile in the glomemles or clusters. The 

 glumes are linear-lanceolate, gradually tax^ering into an awn or bristle of 

 equal length. The flower is one- third to one-half shorter than the glumes, 

 hairy at the base and lower part. The palets are unequal and very acute. 

 The root-stalk or rhizoma is hard and knotty, and furnished with numer- 

 ous short, firm shoots or stolons. 



In the Eastern States it is utilized as one of the native products of 

 wet meadows in the making of what is called wild hay. Specimens have 

 been sent from Colorado and Kansas, and recommended as an excellent 

 grass for hay. (See Plate XXin.) 



CiKNA AEUNDiNACEA— Wood Eecd grass. 



A perennial grass with erect, simple culms from 3 to 6 Yeet high, and 

 a creeping rhizoma, growing in swamps and moist shaded woods. 



The panicle is from 6 to 12 inches long, rather loose and open in flower, 

 afterwards more close. The branches in fours and fives, spreading in 

 flower; after, more erect. The spikelets are 1-flowered, much flattened, 

 crowded in the panicle, and somewhat 'purphsh in color. The glumes are 

 lanceolate, acute, and strongly keeled, the lower rather shorter, the 

 upper a little longer than the palets. The flower is visibly stalked in the 

 glumes, smooth and naked ; the palets much like the glumes, the lower 

 one longer than the upi)er, and sometimes having a short awn on the 

 back, or sometimes naked. The leaves are broadly linear-lanceolate, 

 about 1 foot long, 4 to 6 lines wide, and with a conspicuous elongated 

 ligule. 



This leafy stemmed grass furnishes a large quantity of fodder, but 

 experiments are wanting to determine its availability under cultivation. 

 (See Plate XXIY.) 



Tricuspis PURPUREA— Sand grass. 



This is an annual grass, growing in tufts in sandy ground along the 

 Atlantic coast, and also on the sandy shores of some of the lakes and 

 rivers of the interior. The culms are about 1 loot in height, rather de- 

 cumbent at the base, with numerous (8 to 10) short joints, and a corre- 

 sponding number of narrow awl-shaped leaves 2 to 3 inches long, which 

 are bearded with hairs at the top of the sheaths. There are usually sev- 

 eral lateral panicles of flowers, as well as a terminal one. The lateral 

 ones are inclosed within the sheaths ; the terminal one usually exserted, 

 but short and simple. The spikelets are 2 to 5 flowered, the glumes 



