WILD GRASSES 111 



hairs. The leaves are long, narrow and carinate. Two or three 

 spikes are together in different appressed clusters. It grows from 

 three to four feet high. 



Bouteloua oligostachya, Torr. Until within a few years, this grass 

 was only occasionally met with in eastern Nebraska, though com- 

 mon in the middle and western portions of the State, where it has 

 often been classed with the gramma grasses. This common name, 

 however, is indiscriminately applied to several other species in as 

 many different genera. It is rapidly moving eastward. This year 

 it was so abundant in Lancaster County that it in many places mon- 

 opolized the soil, as could be seen on the wagon road between Lin- 

 coln and Milford. It is distinguished by spikelets of flowers hang- 

 ing from one side of the axis or inflorescence. From three to five 

 spikes are supported on each stalk. The color ranges from purple 

 to indigo blue. Its height varies from ten to sixteen inches. It is 

 exceptionally smooth and hairless, and is a perennial. For grazing, 

 this grass is exceedingly valuable, and where it grows thick and 

 strong, as it is beginning to do in many of the eastern counties, it 

 makes most excellent hay. 



Bouteloua curtipendula, Gray. This grass is abundant in many 

 places. It grows from one to three feet high, but the leaves are 

 scanty, and it is not much sought after by stock. It is, however, a 

 grass of great beauty. It can always be easily recognized by its 

 racemes, which are from eight to fifteen inches long, and contain 

 from fifteen to sixty small spikelets of a purple or scarlet color. 

 For its beauty it deserves a place in the garden, if not in the field. 



Bouteloua hirsuta, Lagasca. This species is frequently confounded 

 with B. oligostachya. The whole stalk is somewhat hairy. When 

 ripening, the spikes are curved, short, and somewhat bristly, be- 

 cause of the great number of stiff hairs that grow from the dark 

 colored glands of the glumes. In sterile situations in the western 

 part of the State, it is short, but further east, where it is increasing 

 rapidly, it is from ten to sixteen inches high. Though perhaps not 

 so valuable as the preceding for forage and hay, yet here herds of 

 cattle are often seen grazing on and apparently enjoying and fatten- 

 ing on it. 



Sporobolu s heterolepis, Gray. This grass is abundant in some por- 

 tions of the State. It makes good hay, for which it is often used. 

 It grows from twenty-five to thirty inches high. Its leaves, which 

 grow from the base of the plant, are thread-like and remarkable 



