200 



GRASSES OF IOWA. 



description". 



Fresh Water Cord 

 Grass or Slough Grass. 

 A stout, erect grass, 2 to 

 6 feet (5-8 dm.) high, 

 with unbranched, smooth 

 culms from strong, creep- 

 ing, scaly root-stocks. Leaf- 

 blade 1 to 4 or 6 feet (2- 

 8 or 12 dm.) long, 2 to 4 

 lines (4-8 mm.) wide, 

 rough on the margins, 

 gradually tapering into 

 long, filiform tips. Spikes 

 5 to 20, spreading, race- 

 mose along the main axis. 

 Empty glumes unequal, 

 aculeolate-scabrous along 

 the rigid keels, acute or 

 the second long-acuminate 

 or short awn-pointed. 

 Flowering glume serru- 

 late-scabrous along the 

 keel or midrib, which ab- 

 ruptly terminates just be- 

 low the membranous apex. 

 River banks and \ a \^ t J^iU Spartina cynosuroides- a , & nd b, S ^ 



lets ; c, flowering glumes. (Div. Agro9. U. a. Dept. 



shores. July to October. Agrl. ) 



Slough grass is widely distributed in the state. It is, however, most 

 abundant in alluvial river bottoms, as the Missouri and Mississippi, 

 where it does much to bind the soil. It is used to some extent for hay. 



DISTRIBUTION". 



Iowa. 7 Forest City, Spirit Lake, Rock Rapids (Shimek) ; De- 

 catur County, Appanoose County ( Fitzpatrick) ; Muscatine County 

 (Bartsch) ; Jones County (Macbride) ; Fayette (Fink); 729 Dixon 

 (Snyder) ; 506 Muscatine (Reppert) ; Humboldt (Wells) ; 643 Mt. 

 Ayr (Beard); 1001 Chariton (Mallory); 1015 Carroll (Simon); 

 814 Dallas County (Rhinehart) ; 702 Amana (Schadt) ; 806 Creston 

 (Bettenga) ; Mt. Pleasant (Witte, Mills) ; 1437 West Union (Whit- 

 more) ; Belknap (Rankin); Boone (Steele); Colfax (Mead); 884 



