364 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



shorter than the lemma, acute; lemma and palea villous on lower 

 half, the lemma mucronate to short-awned. Q[ Dry hills, Texas, 

 New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona; rare (fig. 742). 



9. Muhlenbergia curtifolia Scribn. (Fig. 743.) Perennial, with 

 creeping rhizomes; culms 10 to 20 cm tall, loosely tufted, few from 



FIGURE 739. Muhlenbergia squarrosa. Plant, X H; glumes and lemma, X 10. (Jones 5743, Utah.) 



the branches of the rhizome; sheaths glabrous or pubescent; blades 

 1 to 2.5 cm long, 2 mm wide or less, rigidly spreading, pungently 

 pointed, more or less pubescent; panicle 4 to 8 cm long, slender, the 

 branches appressed; spikelets 3 to 3.5 mm long; glumes acute, a little 

 shorter than the floret ; lemma and palea villous 

 on the lower half, scabrous above, tapering into 

 an awn 1 to 3 mm long. 21 Rocky soil, 

 southern Utah, southern Nevada, and northern 

 Arizona. 



10. Muhlenbergia cuspidata (Torr.) Rydb. 

 PLAINS MUHLY. (Fig. 744.) Culms slender, 

 w Fy, 20 to 40 cm tall, erect, in dense, tufts 

 with hard bulbhke scaly bases; ligule minute; 

 blades flat or loosely involute, erect or ascending, 1 to 2 mm wide; panicle 

 narrow, somewhat spikelike, 5 to 10 cm long, the short branches ap- 

 pressed; spikelets about 3 mm long; glumes subequal, acuminate-cuspi- 

 date, about two- thirds as long as the spikelet ; lemma acuminate-cuspi- 



