GRASSES OF IOWA. 211 



General. Western Asia, East Indies, South Africa, Australia, 

 West I ndies, south to Brazil. 



7. BUCHLCE. 



Buckles Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. 1: 432. pi. 14. 1859. 

 Bentham & Hooker. Gen. PI. 3: 1173. Hackel in Engler & Prantl. Nat. 

 Pflanz. Fam. II. 2: 61. 



Melica. Endlicher Gen. PI. 100. 



Bulbilis Raf. Am. Mo. Mag. 4: 190. 1819. Scribner Bull. U. S. 

 Dept. Agrl. Div. Agros. 20: 14. /. 85 . [Rev. Ed.] 



Sesleria Nutt. Gen. 1: 64. 1818. 



Calanthera Nutt. not Kunth. Mss. Kew. Jour. 8: 18. 



Spikelets dioecious (rarely monoecious), very unlike; the staminate 2 

 to 3-rlowered, sessile, in 2 rows in short one-sided spikes, the empty 

 glumes blunt, i-nerved, very unequal, the flowering larger, 3-nerved, a 

 little exceeding the 2-nerved palet; fertile spikelets i-flowered, in a con- 

 tracted, capitate, i-sided spike, the large outer glumes indurated, trifid 

 at the apex, united at base and resembling an involucre, the inner 

 (lower) much smaller and membranaceous, or in the lowest spikelet re- 

 sembling the outer; flowering glume narrow, hyaline, bifid or nearly 

 entire, enclosing the 2-nerved palet. Styles distinct. Grain ovate, free. A 

 perennial, creeping or stoloniferous plant, with narrow, flat leaves; stami- 

 nate spikes (2 to 3) in a pedunculate spike, the pistillate pair sessile in 

 the broad sheaths of the upper leaves. (Name a contraction of Buba- 

 lochloe, from two Greek words for buffalo and grass.) 



One living species; monotypic genus of North America. 



1. BUCHLCE DACTYLOIDES. 



Buchlce dactyloides Engelm. Trans. St. Louis Acad. 1: 432. 1859. 

 Watson and Coulter. Gray. Man. Bot. 657. pi. 15. 1890. (6 ed ) 



Bulbilis dactyloides (Nutt.) Rafin. Beal. Grasses of N. A. 2: 439. 

 f. 80. 1896. Nash in Britton and Brown. 111. Fl. 1: 183. /. 418. 1896. 

 Scribner. Bull. U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agros. 7: 226. /. 220. 1900. (3ed.) 



DESCRIPTION. 



Buffalo Grass. A low. fine leafed and extensively creeping pe- 

 rennial, rarely more than 4 to b inches (1-I.5 dm.) high; staminate- 

 spikes 2 or 3, approximate; the empty glumes 3-nerved; pistillate spikelets 

 ovoid, the outer glume indurated. Similar to Bermuda grass in habit 

 of growth. Dry prairies and river bottoms. Ascends 4950 feet in the 

 Black Hills. July to August. See figure 148 on page 210. 



