Pine dropseed, also known as beadless pinegrass, beardless drop- 

 seed, and beardless bunchgrass, is a slender, erect, densely tufted, 

 perennial bunchgrass with deep, fibrous roots, occuring in the moun- 

 tains chiefly in open glades and parks or in open timber on mod- 

 erately dry, rocky soils, in the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine 

 and spruce-fir zones from Colorado and Utah to Arizona and west- 

 ern Texas and south into Mexico. It is commonly associated with 

 mountain and ring muhlies, junegrass, and with Sandberg and 

 smooth bluegrasses, but generally comprises only a small portion of 

 the stand. The palatability of pine dropseed, at least when young 

 and tender, is very good for all classes of livestock about equal to 

 that of mountain muhly but somewhat lower than that of bluegrass 

 and junegrass. Its stems and seed heads are either neglected or 

 only slightly grazed during the latter part of the season. The leaves 

 are abundant and sometimes attain a length of 8 inches but usually 

 are considerably shorter and ordinarily not much forage per plant 

 is produced. I*ine dropseed is an important secondary species which 

 will maintain itself normally on properly grazed ranges. 



This grass gets its scientific name from the Greek, blepharis, 

 eyelash, + newron, nerve, and from tricho-, hair, + lepis, scale, both 

 the generic and specific parts of the name referring to the hairiness 

 of the three nerves of the lemma. It is the only species of this 

 genus found in the United States. The stems are erect, densely 

 tufted, often purplish, usually from 10 to 30 inches high ; the flower- 

 ing part, or inflorescence (panicle) head, is somewhat open and 

 from 2 to 9 inches long ; the spikelets are single-flowered and up to 

 about one-eighth of an inch long. 



