Xo. 3. 

 PASPALUM DISTICHUM J>ijin. 



Plan/ pciriiiiial. t he li>u.i;' crcei)!!!!;' rootstncks roiitiug ;it the nodes and forming 

 a I'ather close sod, neaidy glahrons or sometimes pii])esceut, somewliat glaucous. 



Culms (jue or two in a jdace ascending from tlie nodes of the rootstocks. 

 Iiraiichiug. solid, anguhir below, 1 to 2 feet tall. 



Lc«i!v.s' Viiriable; of rootstocks mostly broad, loose, membranaceous scales; of 

 culms .") to ',; slieaths rather locse, closed, rarely compressed and open, .striate; 

 blades tlat or slightly involute, 2 to 2j lines wide, '-i to 6 inches long; ligule an 

 inconspicuous tawny, lacerate fringe, decurrent. 



Inflorescfure of a rarely '■], narrow, erect, approximate spikes, 1 to 'H iuch.es 

 long, the lower one raised on a short iuternodeof the axis; rachis flat, bearing the 

 tw(j crowded rows of sessile sjiikelets in alternate ranks. 



SpikelHs liroadly oblong-lanceolate, flattened, 1-flowered, 1 to li lines long; 

 first and second glumes equal, broadly lanceolate, 3-nerved or unsymmetrically 

 4-nerved; first acute, 1 line long, smooth: second with .short, loose pubescence; 

 floral glume broadly lanceolate, smooth, indurated, o-nerved, 1 line long; palet 

 indurated, ovoid, inclosing grain, acute, oliscurely 1-nerved, 1 line long and quite 

 as broad. 



Grain, elliptical-laneeolate, flattened, nearly black at luaturity, minutely 

 I'oughened, 1 line long: falling with the enveloping palet and glume. Stigmas i, 

 purple, prominent. 



Pl.\tk 111; (f, first empty glume, dorsal view; h, seconii empty glume; c, 

 flowering glume, inside view; <J. jjalet and stamens; f. i)istil. 



Common in th(? Soutliern States, Texas, and westward t<j California. Near the 

 (lulf, and in mt>ist ground it forms valuable pasturage. 



