on dry bench lands, flats, and hillsides of the sagebrush and wheat- 

 grass types. Montana is about the center of distribution for this 

 grass, which ranges from Saskatchewan and Alberta to South Da- 

 kota, Utah, Idaho, and eastern Washington. This species is the 

 only representative of this genus which has much range significance 

 on the dry prairies and foothills. It is rated as poor to fair forage 

 for sheep and up to fairly good for cattle and horses, being espe- 

 cially relished in its younger stages. Plains reedgrass is sometimes 

 confused with junegrass (Koel-eria cristata), although the latter 

 differs in lacking rootstocks, in having several-flowered spikelets, 

 and in its hairiness of stem below the panicle. 



Pacific reedgrass (C. nu\tka>en'sis^ syn. C. aleu'tica) is a. coarse, 

 stemmy plant, attaining a maximum height of 5 feet, which has 

 harsh blades 1 foot or more long and three-eighths of an inch 

 wide, and narrow, loose panicles up to 12 inches long. This robust 

 species grows in scattered stands in wet meadows, moist woods, 

 brushlands, and sand dunes along the Pacific Coast irom Alaska to 

 central California. Cattle and horses graze the leafage until the 

 seed is formed, after which it becomes harsh and tough and is little 

 used. Sheep eat the herbage only in the spring. 



Purple pmegrass (C. purpuras' cens) , also known as purple reed- 

 grass, is an erect, densely tufted grass up to 2 1 / feet tall, with dense, 

 spikelike, pale, or often purplish flower heads (panicles), and rough, 

 rather stiff leaves. It grows sparsely on subalpine open ridges, dry 

 rocky hills, and dry woods, as well as in moist parks and meadows, 

 from the arctic regions to California and Colorado. Early in the 

 season, this grass is grazed readily by all classes of livestock but 

 after midsummer only lightly or moderately by cattle and horses. 



The species of the Cailamagrostis genus are difficult to identify, 

 due to the great variation of the individual species and to the ex- 

 istence of series of integrading forms. They are usually moderately 

 tall or robust perennial grasses with open or narrow panicles. The 

 individual flower groups (spikelets) are small, and one-flowered. 

 The lowest two spikelet bracts (glumes) are persistent, about equal, 

 awnless, and pointed. The outer flower bract (lemma) is shorter 

 and usually more delicate than the glumes, surrounded at the base 

 by a tuft of hairs, and awned from the back, usually below the mid- 

 dle, with a delicate, straight prickle or with a stouter, bent or 

 twisted, exserted awn. The small, thin, and narrow inner flower 

 bract (palea) is shorter than the lemma. Botanically, the reed- 

 grasses are a somewhat artificial group, not sharply separable from 

 the closely related redtops (Agrostis spp.). In general they are dis- 

 tinguished by their tendency to have thicker or more wiry stems, 

 and a coarser habit of growth; by the prolongation of the stalk of 

 the spikelet (rachilla) as a hairy bristle behind the well-developed 

 palea, and (in most cases), as stated above, by the tuft of hairs at 

 the base of the lemma, which is typically shorter than the glumes. A 

 few species of Calamagrostis, however, such as C. breweri, are small 

 and delicate, and a few species of Agrostis, such as Alaska redtop 

 (A. aequival'vis) have well-developed paleas, lemmas about as long 

 as the glumes, the spikelet axis prolonged into a short rudiment, 

 and the florets somewhat fuzzy at the base. 



