Cane beardgrass is a perennial bunchgrass and one of the com- 

 paratively few common range grasses with solid or pithy stems. 

 This species has been generally confused in the western botanical 

 manuals with silver beardgrass (A. saccTiarroides) ; the "A. saccha- 

 roides" (syn. A. saccharoides laywoides) , as listed in those works, 

 largely include both true A. saccharoides and A. barbinodis. Cane 

 beardgrass differs from silver beardgrass chiefly because its head is 

 shorter, fan-shaped, rather than elongated, and the joints of its 

 stems bear longer hairs. Other local names, such as Torrey beard- 

 grass, big feathergrass, feather bluestem, and beargrass, are applied 

 indiscriminately to these species, but silver beardgrass is the most 

 commonly used name because of the silvery appearance of the heads. 

 The specific name of cane beardgrass barbtnodi-s is derived from 

 the Latin barba, beard, and nodws, a joint, and refers to the con- 

 spicuously hairy joints of the stems. 



Cane beardgrass occurs from Oklahoma to Arizona and Texas 

 and south into Mexico; it is less widely distributed and more dis- 

 tinctly western than silver beardgrass, which ranges from Alabama 

 to Missouri, Colorado, and California, and south into Mexico. Cane 

 beardgrass is very important in the Southwest because it grows on 

 very dry soils; in Arizona for example, it occurs on those areas of 

 cindery soils where almost no other grasses thrive. It is also found 

 on moderately dry soils in gullies and along the banks of dry 

 washes and the like, but usually occurs scatteringly and seldom forms 

 dense, pure stands. It extends upward to the woodland and pon- 

 derosa pine belts but is more common at lower elevations. 



Most observers agree that cane beardgrass is fair to- good forage 

 while it is young, and that the mature growth, although mostly 

 too rank and coarse to be of the highest value, is fair forage for 

 cattle and horses and supplies considerable winter feed for these 

 classes of livestock, although too coarse for sheep. 



The species is very drought-resisting and hence is invaluable on 

 certain southwestern ranges. It will grow where the annual precipi- 

 tation is about 5 or 6 inches, when supplemented by occasional 

 flooding incident to heavy summer showers. Its drought resistance 

 and natural occurrence in well-drained soils, ditches, and gullies 

 suggest its possible use in erosion-control work in dry areas. 



Cane beardgrass is a robust species having coarse, usually straw- 

 colored, pithy stems, often 4 feet high, with enlarged, hairy joints, 

 or nodes. The head is rather short, about 3 to 5 inches long, long- 

 exserted from the upper leaf sheath, and consists of from 7 to 10 

 branches (racemes) arranged in a somewhat fan-shaped, silvery- 

 hairy, terminal cluster. The axis of the raceme is conspicuously 

 jointed, a pair of spikelets being produced at each joint. One of these 

 spikelets is stalkless and seed-producing, the outer flower bract 

 (lemma) bearing a twisted and bent awn about three-fourths of an 

 inch long. The other spikelet is on a short stalk and consists of a 

 single bract. The leaves are usually flat, harsh on the upper sur- 

 face, and frequently turn reddish in, drying. The grass is a rather 

 handsome one, when headed out, and it is of interest to note that 

 certain varieties of its very close relative, silver beardgrass (A. 

 sacoharoides, syn. A. argentews} are cultivated as ornamentals. 



