Redtop, so named because of the usual reddish hue of its characteristic 

 pyramid-shaped panicles, is one of the most important perennial grasses in 

 the United States. It was early introduced into the American colonies from 

 Europe and is now widely distributed throughout most of North America, 

 occurring from Alaska to Newfoundland, Florida, California, and Mexico. 



Redtop is probably adapted to a wider range of climatic and soil condi- 

 tions than any other cultivated grass, and succeeds well over most of the 

 United States, except in the drier regions and the extreme South. This species 

 is as resistant to cold as is timothy and withstands summer heat much 

 better. 2 It is recognized as the best wet-land grass among the cultivated species, 

 as it thrives on moist or wet soils and is able to grow vigorously in shallow 

 ponds, which later become dry. It also grows well on acid soils so deficient in 

 lime as to prohibit the growth of bluegrass and most other valuable grasses. 

 If moisture is abundant, redtop does not show a marked preference for soil 

 types though it grows best on rich, sandy, or clay loams. Although essentially 

 adapted to grow on wet ground, redtop sometimes occurs on well-drained and 

 rather infertile soils. This grass, however, is not tolerant to shade and seldom 

 appears in dense timber or other shaded situations. 2 On the mountainous 

 western ranges redtop usually occupies wet or moist meadows, parks, openings 

 in the timber, stream banks, and moist canyon bottoms; it also occurs, to a 

 less extent, on well-drained soils in sagebrush parks, open grasslands and cut- 

 over and burned-over timber lands. It has escaped from cultivation in many 

 places and is found along roadsides and in waste places. It ranges from sea 

 level to about 10,000 feet, but commonly to about 8,000 feet. 



Redtop has become firmly established on many ranges and is now widely 

 distributed throughout the mountains of the West. Although cultivated pas- 

 ture experiments have shown that cattle usually prefer all other cultivated 

 grasses to redtop, 2 it is highly regarded as a range forage plant. Redtop is 

 iisually given a palatability rating of good to very good for cattle and horses. 

 fairly good to good for sheep, and is regarded as highly satisfactory forage for 

 elk. On moist sites the herbage of redtop usually remains green all summer 

 and is cropped with relish throughout the grazing season. The vigorous inter- 

 twining rootstocks of this grass form a dense sod which binds the soil firmly 

 and enables the plants to withstand excessive trampling and close grazing. 



Redtop has proved a valuable plant for use in the artificial reseeding of the 

 more favorable sites of western mountain range lands. On wet acid sites 

 it gives better reseeding results than any other cultivated grass, but on drier 

 sites other grasses are usually superior to redtop. Experiments in artificial 

 reseeding conducted on national forest lands in the West since 1902 3 demon- 

 strate that this grass should be used only in the reseeding of meadows at 

 medium to high elevations, below timber line, on the interior range lands, and 

 on range lands on the west coastal slope, where the annual precipitation ex- 

 ceeds 40 inches. On sites which are conducive to rapid growth and early 

 establishment, from 8 to 10 pounds per acre of the extremely small seed should 

 be sown to obtain a full stand. Soil treatment should be very shallow. 3 



Redtop is valuable for pasture, hay, and lawns. It is extensively raised as a 

 meadow hay and pasture grass in the valleys of the West. The yields of redtop 

 hay on wet lands are usually better than any other hay grass.* However, 

 best results obtain when redtop is grown in mixture with other hay plants, 

 particularly timothy and clover, as it matures at about the same time as 

 timothy and will usually add materially to the yield of a timothy and clover 

 hay crop.* This plant is a Adgorous grower and will form a good turf in a 

 short time, a characteristic which makes redtop valuable for use as a soil- 

 binder in stopping and reclaiming gullies and for holding slopes and banks. 



Cultivated redtop is extremely variable. The leaves may be very narrow 

 or over one-fourth of an inch in width, dark bluish green or pale green in 

 color ; the rather open, panicles vary from 2 up to 12 inches in length and 

 from green to reddish/ or purplish in color; the running rootstocks may be 

 abundant and vigorous or few or even lacking entirely. 



2 Piper. C. V. FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIE CULTURE. Rev., 671 pp., illus. New York. 1924. 



3 Forslmg, C. L., and Dayton, W. A. ARTIFICIAL RESEBDING ox WESTERN MOUNTAIN 

 RANGE LANDS. U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 178, 48 pp., illus. 1931. 



* Piper, C. V. IMPORTANT CULTIVATED GRASSES. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farmers' Bull. 1254, 

 38 pp., iilus. 1922. 



