Vine-mesquite is unusual among western range grasses in that it produces 

 creeping stems, or stolons, which sometimes are 10 feet long. It is also known, 

 especially in Texas, as grapevine-mesquite and, in the Southwest, as vine panic- 

 grass. Other local names are ricegrass, vine grass, and wire grass. Obtusum 

 is the Latin for hlunt, referring to the rounded spikelets; hence this species 

 is sometimes known as hlunt panic-grass. 



This perennial occurs from western Missouri and southern Colorado south 

 to Arizona, Texas, and Mexico. It is found typically in sandy or gravelly soil. 

 chiefly in moist sites along stream and ditch banks, both in the open and in 

 the shade of trees and shrubs. Vine-mesquite extends upward into the pon- 

 derosa-pine belt, but is more common at lower altitudes. This grass requires 

 warmth and is best adapted to a fine, compact soil but needs more moisture 

 than is usually available in the greater part of the Southwest. 



The species varies considerably in the amount and character of the leafage 

 produced, which has resulted in rather conflicting reports about its forage 

 value. Texans often report that livestock will not eat vine-mesquite if other 

 forage is available. On the other hand, most Arizona and New Mexico ob- 

 servers agree that it is fair to fairly good forage for all classes of livestock, 

 at least while it is green and tender, although some New Mexico investigators 

 speak of it as not uncommonly a weedy encroacher in pastures and fields and 

 as not very good feed, though stock eat it when it is green and tender or when 

 there is nothing better available. 1 The plant is readily established from seed, 

 which is produced in abundance and ordinarily disseminated during July. 

 August, iand a part of September. Viability of the seed is generally low. 23 

 It also reproduces by means of long above-ground stolons as well as by short 

 underground rootstocks. Because of its excellent soil-binding qualities and 

 prolific reproduction system, the species seems to offer sufficient promise to 

 warrant more extensive experiments in its cultivation. 



Recent investigations by Hendricks 4 of the Southwestern Forest and Range 

 Experiment Station, United States Forest Service, indicate that vine-mesquite, 

 because it spreads rapidly by means of its stolons, or runners, and forms a 

 dense mat of vegetation, is well adapted to assist in the control of soil erosion 

 in the Southwest, especially in arroyos, gullies, and bottomlands. If already 

 present on the area, conservative grazing will permit the natural extension 

 of vine-mesquite, as well as other grasses, to form the necessary protective 

 cover. Hendricks finds that transplants of seedlings of vine-mesquite usually 

 result successfully if made at the beginning of either the spring or fall rainy 

 season in years of average or better than average rainfall. Sod containing 

 vine-mesquite may also be used to establish spots in critical areas. 



Botanically, vine-mesquite is, at least so far as United States species are 

 concerned, a unique species of Panicum, because of its long-creeping stems, 

 with their swollen, woolly joints, the joints of the erect stems being quite hair- 

 less, and also because of its glumes, which are nearly as long as the spikelets 

 and only slightly unequal. The flower heads are usually partially enclosed 

 in the upper leaf sheath and consist of a few, one-sided, spikelike densely 

 flowered racemes. The spikelets occur in pairs, one on a shorter stem than 

 the other, and are usually two-flowered, only one flower producing seed. 

 The lemma of the fertile flower is white, firm-papery, and indistinctly nerved, 

 which probably explains why the plant is sometimes known as ricegrass. 

 Most species of panicgrass lack creeping stems, and have very unequal glumes 

 which, as a rule, are conspicuously shorter than the spikelets. The only 

 known species which at all closely resembles vine-mesquite is P. repandum of 

 Brazil. However, Savannah panicgrass (P. gymnocarpon) , which occurs in 

 wet sites from Texas to Florida, is similar to vine-mesquite in that its stems 

 are decumbent, root at the joints, and are often widely creeping. The fruit of 

 vine-mesquite is almost one-eighth of an inch long and is not notably exposed 

 at maturity. 



1 Wooton, E. O., and Standley, P. C. THE GRASSES AND ORASS-LIKE PLANTS OF NEW 

 MEXICO. N. Mex. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 81, [17(5] pp., illus. 1912. 



2 Jackson, C. V. SEED GERMINATION IN CERTAIN NEW MEXICO RANGE GRASSES. Bot. 

 Gaz. 86 : 270-294, illus. 1928. 



3 Wilson, C. P. THE ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING OF NEW MEXICO RANGES. N. MeX. Agr. 



Expt. Sta. Bull. 189, 37 pp., illus. 1931 . 



4 Hendricks, B. A. VINE-MESQUITE FOR EROSION CONTROL ON SOUTHWESTERN RANGES. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. Leaflet 114, 8 pp., illus. 1936. 



