of the leaves; absence or presence, amount and kind of hairs on the leaves 

 and sheaths ; the number of shoots produced by the plants ; presence of 

 one (as contrasted with two) fertile spikelets at each joint of the rachis, and 

 relative length of the awns as compared with the lemma. These characters 

 so intergrade that the best current agrostological opinion prefers to regard 

 The following as synonyms of 8'. hj/struc: 8. basalticola, 8. brei'ifolium, 8. 

 califomicum, S. ciliattim, 8. cinereum, 8. elymsjidc*, 8. glabrum, 8. insulare, 

 8. latifolium, 8. Ion-pi folium, 8. marffinatum, 8. minus, 8. moUe, 8. montanum, 

 8. pubiflorum, 8. rigidum, 8. strigosum, and 8. velutinum. Under this larger 

 concept, the range of this species extends from eastern Washington to South 

 Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and California. Bottlebrush squirreltail 

 grows chiefly on dry, gravelly soils or in saline situations and is fairly com- 

 mon in some localities common on hillsides and alkaline flats in grass, weed, 

 and brush types. Occasionally it is abundant on small local areas, but is 

 mainly of scattered occurrence. 



The palatability of bottlebrush squirreltail varies somewhat according to 

 locality and season of the year. In general, it is fair, fairly good, or occasionally 

 good cattle forage and fair sheep forage for spring and early summer use before 

 the heads develop. In the mountains of Arizona, Utah, and Nevada it ordina- 

 rily is grazed more freely than further north or in California. The bristly 

 spikes are objectionable to livestock and, when present, the plant is little grazed. 

 It tends to green up measurably with the advent of the fall rains and, if the 

 objectionable heads have fallen, it is again grazed, use then largely depending 

 upon the amount of other forage available. For example, in the desert regions 

 of Utah and Nevada it classes as good fall and winter forage. On the Boise 

 and Sawtooth National Forests of south central Idaho bottlebrush squirreltail is 

 usually stunted, stemmy, and few-leaved, and better forage plants are associated 

 with it. 



SQUIRRELTAILS (Sita'nion spp.) 



Sitanion is a small, western North American genus of three species of per- 

 ennial bunchgrasses, according to conservative, present-day opinion. By far 

 the most common and widely distributed of these species is bottlebrush squirrel- 

 tail discussed in the foregoing paragraphs. Big squirreltail (8. jubatum), 

 which is now considered to include 8. breviaristatum, 8. nwltisetum, and 

 8. villosum, of the botanical manuals, ranges from Washington and California 

 eastward to Idaho and New Mexico and is typical of dry, rocky soils, chiefly in 

 the mountains. This is also a variable species, but ordinarily is the most robust 

 member of the genus and has longer, thicker spikes and longer awns than the 

 other species. It is distinguished from bottlebrush squirreltail by its glumes, 

 which are divided into 3 to 12 long-awned lobes, those of bottlebrush squirrel- 

 tail being entire or sometimes two-divided. 



Hansen squirreltail (8. han'seni), including 8. anomalum, 8. planifoliwn, and 

 8. rubescens, the other member of the genus, is typically a west coast species 

 ranging from Washington to California, but also occurring inland to Idaho and 

 Nevada. This species has three-nerved glumes, either entire or once or twice 

 divided, which distinguishes it from bottlebrush squirreltail and its two-nerved 

 glumes. Both big squirreltail and Hansen squirreltail have practically the same 

 palatability as bottlebrush squirreltail but ordinarily are less common and 

 hence less important. 



The generic name Sitanion is derived from an ancient Greek plant name 

 silanias used by Theophratus (third century, B. C.) to designate some plant, 

 perhaps buckwheat from a stem word sitos, meaning grain, or food. Foxtail 

 barley (Hordeum jubattuni) is the only common western range grass which 

 closely resembles the squirreltails. The heads of foxtail barley, however, are 

 somewhat more delicate, with smaller spikelets and finer awns than those of 

 squirreltail. Furthermore, the awns of squirreltails are very rough, while when 

 mature the awns of the glumes are bent and stand out at right angles to the 

 axis of the head, being strikingly different from those of foxtail barley, which, 

 although spreading, are scarcely bent. The three spikelets at each joint of the 

 rachis of foxtail barley, with the central spikelet the only fertile one, is a 

 positive distinction, as the squirreltails never have more than two spikelets at 

 each, rachis joint, those spikelets invariably being fertile and several-flowered. 



