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



5. Chloris gayana Kunth. RHODES GRASS. (Fig. 1065.) Culms 

 1 to 1.5 m tall with long, stout, leafy stolons, the internodes com- 

 pressed, tough and wiry; blades 3 to 5 mm wide, tapering to a 

 fine point; spikes several to numerous, erect or ascending, 5 to 10 cm 

 long; spikelets crowded, pale-tawny; lemma 3 mm long, hispid on the 

 margin near the summit, more or less hispidulous below, the awn 1 to 5 

 mm long; rudiment commonly of 2 florets, the lower rather narrow, 



the awn usually somewhat shorter 

 than that of the fertile lemma, the 

 upper minute, broad, truncate. 

 01 Cultivated for forage in 

 warmer regions, escaped into fields 

 and waste places, North Carolina 

 and from Florida to southern Cali- 

 fornia and in tropical America (fig. 

 1066); introduced from Africa. A 

 promising meadow grass in irri- 

 gated regions. 



6. Chloris chloridea (Presl) 

 Hitchc. (Fig. 1067.) Culms slen- 

 der, 60 to 100 cm tall; blades flat, 3 

 to 7 mm wide, long-acuminate; 

 spikes slender, few to several, 

 mostly 8 to 15 cm long, approxi- 

 mate on an axis 2 to 10 cm long; 

 spikelets appressed, not crowded; 

 lemma narrow, glabrous, somewhat 

 scaberulous toward the tip, about 

 6 mm long, the awn 10 to 12 mm 

 long; rudiment very narrow, awned. 

 21 (C. clandestine^ Scribn. and 

 Merr.) Open ground, Texas 

 (Brownsville) and Mexico. Large 

 cleistogamous spikelets are borne 

 on slender underground branches, 

 rather rare in herbarium specimens, 

 either infrequent or readily broken 

 off. 



7. Chloris andropogonoides 

 Fourn. (Fig. 1068.) Culms densely 

 tufted, 20 to 40 cm tall, the leaves 

 mostly basal; blades about 1 mm 

 wide as folded; spikes slender, few 

 to several, 5 to 10 cm long, whorled, 

 divergent, floriferous from base; 

 spikelets scarcely overlapping; 



lemma minutely pubescent on midnerve and margin or glabrous, 2 

 to 3 mm usually about 2.5 mm long, awned below the tip, the awn 

 about 5 mm long; rudiment narrow, the awn usually shorter than 

 that of the lemma. 01 (C. tenuispica Nash.) Plains, Texas and 

 northern Mexico. 



8. Chloris texensis Nash. (Fig. 1069.) Culms taller and stouter 

 than in C. andropogonoides; blades 2 to 3 mm wide as folded; spikes 



FIGURE 1064. Chloris neglecta. Panicle, X 1; 

 florets, X 5. (Curtiss 3445, Fla.) 



