GRASSES OF IOWA. 227 



DESCRIPTION. 



Capillary Eragrostis. An erect annual, 6 to 2=> inches ( [5-60 

 cm.) high, branching at the base, the widelj expanding panicle usually 

 much longer than the culm below it. Sheaths and base of leaves more 

 or less hairy, sometimes glabrous; ligule a minute fringe of hairs; leaf- 

 blade 4 to 12 inches (10-30 cm.) long, : ; to 2 lines (2-5 mm.) wide. 

 Spikelets three to five-flowered, 1 line (2 mm.) or less long; empty 

 glumes about .', line ( 1 mm.) long, equal, hispid on the keel, acute; flow- 

 ering glume ovate-lanceolate, acute, obscurely 3-nerved, about § line 

 (i : 1 . mm.) long. Palea rough-ciliate on the keels, drain nearly spheri- 

 cal. The spreading panicle-branches and long, diverging pedicels cap- 

 illary. Dry, sandy fields, sandy woods and roadsides. August, September. 



Eragrostis capillaris is local in its distribution, and occurs only on 

 the carboniferous sandstones and talus in central and eastern Iowa. 

 See figure 158. on page 225. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Iowa. Ledges, Boone County, 557 Iowa City (Hitchcock) ; Win- 

 terset, 253 (Carver) ; Steamboat Rock (Shimek). 



North America. From New England to New York; Kentucky 

 (Harlan County, Kearney, 196), south to Georgia, Texas and Florida 

 (Duval County, Curtiss), Missouri (St. Louis, Pammel), Iowa. 



General. Brazil. 



3. ERAGROSTIS FRANKII. 



Eragrostis Fran kit Steud. Syn. PI. Gram. 273. 1854-5. Nash in 

 Britton and Brown. 111. PI. 1: 188. /. 429. 1896. Scribner. Bull. U. 

 S. Dept. Agr. Div. Aros. 7: 253. f. 247. 1900. (3d ed.) 



Eragrostis Frankii Meyer. Watson & Coulter. Gray. Man. Bot. 

 661. 1890. Scribner. Grasses of Tenn. Bull. Univ. Term. Agr. Exp. Sta. 

 7: 96 /. 125. 1894. Beal. Grasses of N. A. 2: 480. 1896. 



Eragrostis erythrogona Nees. Steud. Syn. PI. Gram. 273. 1855. 



DESCRIPTION". 



Short Stalked Meadow Grass. A low, diffusely-branched an- 

 nual, 3 to 15 inches (6-32 cm.) high. Sheaths pilose at the throat; ligule 

 less than 1 line (2 mm.) long, lacerated; leaf-blade \ to 2 lines (1^-4 

 mm.) wide; 1 to 7 inches (2-14 cm.) long; flat or conduplicate towards 

 the apex. Panicle ovate or oblong, with spreading, capillary branches and 

 pedicels, the latter mostly longer than the spikelets. Spikelets ovate, about 

 i line (2mm.) long, three to five-flowered; empty glumes spreading, 



