318 GRASSES OP IOWA. 



Spikes more or less nodding, 3 to 6 inches (6-12 cm.) long. Spikelets 

 three to six-flowered, the florets rather distant; empty glumes three to- 

 five-nerved, acute or long awned ; flowering glumes nerved near the tip, 

 with awns nearly twice their length. July-August. 



Reported from northwestern Iowa only, where it is not uncommon. 

 The species is considered a good forage plant. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Iowa. Ames 38 and 769 (Ball and Combs) ; Iowa-Minnesota 

 line (Pammel) ; Ames (Sirrine) ; Emmet County (Cratty) ; Lake Oko- 

 boji (Hitchcock). 



North America. From New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and British 

 Columbia, south to Colorado; south through New England and middle 

 states and west to Nevada, Wyoming (Sheep Mountain, T. A. Wil- 

 liams 2306). 



General. Europe and Asia. 



3. AGROPYRON TENERUM. 



Agropyron tenerutn Vasey. Bot. Gaz. 10: 258. 1885. Watson and 

 Coulter. Gray. Man. Bot. 672. 1890. (6ed.) Shear. Bull. U.S. Dept. Agrl. 

 Div. Agros. 4: 29. 1897. Nash in Britton and Brown. 111. Fl. 1: 227. /. 527. 

 1896. Scribner. Bull. U. S. Dept. Agrl. Div. Agros. 17: 297. f. 593. 1899. 



Agropyron repens var. tenerutn Vasey. Beal. Grasses of N. A. 2: 

 636. 1896. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Slender Wheat Grass. An erect, caespitose, rather stout, 

 smooth perennial, 3 to 4J feet (6-9 dm.) high, with narrow, flat leaves, 

 and slender, cylindrical spikes, 4 to 7^ inches (8-15 cm.) long. Outer 

 glumes five-nerved ; flowering glumes lanceolate, 4 to 5 lines (8-10 mm.) 

 long, tipped with a stiff, straight awn ^ to 2 lines (1-4 mm.) long. Dry 

 soil. July- August. 



It has been found in eastern, northern and northwestern Iowa, but 

 native only to northwestern Iowa, from Emmet to Lyon counties. It is 

 a valuable forage plant and highly esteemed in the Rocky Mountains. 

 In Iowa it starts early in the spring and matures very rapidly. See 

 figure 224, on page 317. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Iowa. Mason City (Miss King), 895 Elmore, Minn. (Minne- 

 sota-Iowa line), 3366 and 3307 Ceylon, 3362 and 3360 Spirit Lake 

 (Pammel) ; Cedar Falls (Carver) ; Ames 11 17 (Stewart, Carver, Sir- 



