GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 63 



11-nerved, with long acuminate teeth and long pilose on back and margins; 

 palet shorter, bidentate. D. sericea as to this range. Colorado and Wyoming. 



37. SPARTINA Schreb. CORD OR MARSH GRASS 



Perennials, with simple and rigid reed-like stems, from extensively creeping 

 scaly rootstocks, very smooth sheaths, and long tough leaves. Spikelets 

 1-flowered, very much flattened, jointed and sessile in 2 ranks on the outer 

 side of a triangular rachis. Glumes unequal, acute or bristle-pointed; palet 

 thin, equaling or longer than the lemma. Stamens 3. Styles long, more or 

 less united. Grain free. 



First glume and lemma subequal . . . . . . . .1.8. cynosuroides. 



First glume twice as long as the lemma 2. S. gracilis. 



1. Spartina cynosuroides (L.) Willd. Enum. 80. 1809. Stems 4-10 dm. 

 high: leaves 3-6 dm. long, tapering to a long slender involute point: spikes 

 5-20, scattered and spreading, at least at maturity, the pedicels and common 

 axis strongly hispid on the angles : lower glume very narrow ; the upper broad, 

 spinulose hispid on the keel and tapering to a rough awn; lemma very rough on 

 the midrib which terminates just below its tip. Across the continent along 

 the borders of lakes and rivers. 



2. Spartina gracilis Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 6: 5. 1840. Stems more 

 slender, 2-6 dm. high, exceeding the spreading distichous rough and rigid 

 leaves: spikes 4-10, mostly sessile, closely appressed to the nearly smooth 

 rachis: glumes very unequal, the lower acuminate, the upper acute, they and 

 the lemma ciliate and hispid upon the keek In saline soils from Oregon to 

 Texas. 



38. BOUTELOUA Lag. GRAMA GRASS 



Annual or perennial grasses with slender culms and narrow flat or con- 

 volute leaves and slender dense one-sided spikes. Spikelets 1-2-flowered, ar- 

 ranged in two rows on one side of a flat rachis; the rachilla bearing 1-3 empty 

 lemmas or bristles (or rarely staminate flowers) above the single perfect 

 flower. Glumes acute and keeled; lemma broader and 3-toothed; palet hya- 

 line. Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain oblong, free. 



Glumes hirsute or villous. 



Rachilla with rudimentary lemma glabrous . . . . .1. B. hirsuta. 



Rachilla with rudimentary lemma bearing a tuft of hair at apex . 2. B. oligost&chya. 

 Glumes glabrous. 



Lemma 4-lobed . . . . ... . . . . 3. B. polystachya. 



Lemma 3-lobed . . . . . . . . . . 4. B. prostrata. 



1. Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. Var. Cienc. 2: 141. 1805. Tufted, 1-4 dm. high: 

 leaves flat, lance-linear, papillose hairy or glabrous: spikes 1-4, oblong-linear, 

 very dense: upper glume hispid with strong bristles from dark warty glands; 

 lemma pubescent, 3-cleft; sterile lemma and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns 

 longer than the glumes and fertile flower. Colorado to Mexico, and eastward 

 to Texas and Illinois. 



2. Bouteloua oligostachya (Nutt.) Torr. in Gray Man. 553. 1856. Gla- 

 brous, 1-4 dm. high: leaves very narrow: spikes 1-5, oblong-linear, very dense: 

 glumes sparingly sdft-hairy; pedicel of the sterile lemma copiously villous- 

 tufted at the summit; the 3 awns equaling the larger glume. From the 

 Saskatchewan to Texas, Mexico, and southern California. 



3. Bouteloua polystachya (Benth.) Torr. Pacif. R. R. Rep. 5: 366. 1857. 

 Stems 1-3 dm. long: leaves scabrous: spikes 3 to 6 or more, narrowly linear, 

 dense, the scabrous rachis hispid-ciliate; lemma and rudimentary lemma 

 4-lobed, 3-awned and ciliate on the nerves. Reported from southern Colo- 

 rado and Utah; New Mexico to southern California. 



4. Bouteloua prostrata Lag. 1. c. A similar slender tufted annual 1-2 dm. 

 high: leaves short and narrow: spikes solitary, terminal, curved, 1-2 cm. 



