198 



GRASSES OF IOWA. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Slough Grass or Wild 

 Timothy. A stout, erect, 

 subaquatic perennial, I to 4 

 feet (3-12 dm.) high, with 

 narrow panicles composed of 

 many, densely-flowered, one- 

 sided spikes. Sheaths longer 

 than the internodes, loose; 

 ligule 2 to 4 lines (4-8 mm.) 

 long; leaf blades 3 to 9 

 inches (7-22 cm.) long, 2 to 

 4 lines (4-8 mm.) wide, 

 scabrous. Spikelets 1 to i| 

 lines long, one to two-flow- 

 ered, imbricated in two rows 

 on one side of the rachis; 

 empty glumes smooth, sac- 

 cate, obtuse or abruptly 

 acute ; flowering glumes 

 acute, the lower generally 

 awn-pointed. In sloughs and 

 along the banks of streams. 

 June to September. A valu- 

 able grass. Found in Iowa, 

 however, only in the north- 

 western section of the state. 



Fig. 140. Beckmannia erucaeformis — a, and b, 



spikes; c, spikelet; d, flowering glume. (Div. 

 Agros. U. S. Dept. Agrl. ) 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Iowa. Ames, cult. (Sirrine) ; Spencer (Hitchcock) ; Little Rock 

 (Ball); Lyon County (Shimek) ; Sheldahl (Hitchcock). 



North America. Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota (Douglas), 

 Wyoming (Blacks Fork, Fuller's Ranch, Pammel), Montana (Craig), 

 Colorado (Ft. Collins, Pammel, Crandall) ; Nevada (Reno, Tracy), to 

 California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Manitoba as far 

 north as Lake Misstassini. 



General. Southern Europe to the Orient; Siberia. 



