MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 523 



at the nodes consisting of several short leafy branches, with 1 or 2 

 longer branches with slender internodes; blades stiff, mostly less than 

 3 cm long, 1 to 3 mm wide; fascicles of spikelets about 7 mm long; 

 lemmas with a tuft of hairs on the margin about the middle, o 

 Open ground, plains, and hills, at medium altitudes, common in old 



FIGURE 1105. Cathestecum erectum. Plant, X Vi\ group of spikelets, central spikelet, and fertile floret, X 5. 



(Palmer 161, Mex.) 



fields and recently disturbed soil, Alberta and North Dakota to 

 Montana, south to Texas and Arizona (fig. 1107). Occasional plants 

 are found with a white floccose covering, the remains of egg cases of 

 a species of woolly aphid. The variety floccuosa Vasey was described 

 from such a specimen. 



