2U 



Fig. 238. REDPIELDIA FL,EXXTOSA (Thurb. ) Vasey, Bui. Torr. Bot. Club, 

 14 : 133. 1887. ( Graphephorum { ?,i nexuomm Thurb. Proc. Acad. Nat. Scl. Phila, 

 1863: 78. 1863.) REDFIELD'S GRASS.— A stout, native perennial 6-12 dm. 

 (2°-4°) high, with very long, narrow leaves and diffuse, capillary panicles 2.5-60 

 cm. (10'-24') long. Sheaths glabrous, the lower ones short, crowded; leaf-blades 

 involute 3-6 dm. (l°-2°j long. 2-4 mm. (l"-2") wide. Spikelets (o) about 6 mm. 

 (3") long, 1 to 3 flowered; empty glumes glabrous, acute; flowering glumes (6) 

 with a ring of hairs at the base, minutely scabrous, twice the length of the 

 empty ones, the midnerve usually excurrent as a short point.— Sand hills and 

 "blow-outs," Kansas and Nebraska to Indian Territory, Colorado, and Wyo- 

 ming. July, August. 



This species has deeply penetrating and widely spreading underground stems 

 or rhizomes, making it a valuable species for binding drifting sands. It is the 

 characteristic grass of the sand-hill region of central Nebraska, and from its 

 habit of growth in drifting sands it is often called '• blow-out grass." 



