290 GRAMINE^E. Spartina. 



feathery. Grain laterally compressed, free. Perennials, with creeping scaly root- 

 stocks, and simple reed-like culms bearing long tough leaves with smooth sheaths. 



There are about 8 species, though three times as many are described, found chiefly in warm 

 climates. Four occur in the Atlantic States ; though usually growing in salt marshes, some 

 extend far inland. 



1. S. Stricta, Roth. Culms erect and stiff, 1 to 4 feet high : leaves coriaceous, 

 smooth, a foot long or more, 6 to 8 lines wide at base, tapering to a long narrow 

 convolute point ; ligule a short fringe ; sheaths rather loose, overlapping and quite 

 clothing the culm : panicle 4 to 6 inches long, of 3 to 8 sessile erect spikes 1 to 3 

 inches long, the projecting point of the rhachis once or twice the length of the upper 

 spikelet : spikelets 6 to 8 lines long, loosely imbricated, soft : glumes very unequal, 

 smooth or merely scabrous on the keel, the larger 1-nerved : upper palet exceeding 

 the lower. Trin. Agrost. i. 90; Nees, Gen. i, t. 41. S. foliosa, Trin. 1. c. 92, a 

 very leafy form. 



Salt marshes near San Francisco, Bolander. Common on both shores of the Atlantic, where it 

 varies so much that several nominal species have been made of it. The stems and foliage, though 

 coarse, are succulent and greedily eaten, but communicate a strong and rancid flavor to the milk, 

 butter, and even to the flesh of animals that have fed upon it. It forms a more durable material 

 than straw for thatching roofs, and it is known in some parts of New England as "thatch," and 

 the unpleasant flavor given by it to milk and butter is called " thatchy." 



2. S. cynosuroides, Willd. Culms 2 to 6 feet high, rather slender ; leaves 

 2 to 4 feet long, 4 to 6 lines wide at base, tapering to a long slender involute point, 

 smooth except on the margins ; ligule bearded : spikes 5 to 20, scattered and spread- 

 ing, at least at maturity, 2 to 4 inches long on pedicels about ^ inch long, the pedi- 

 cels and common axis strongly hispid on the angles : spikelets closely imbricated : 

 lower glume very narrow, the upper broad, spinulose-hispid on the keel arid tapering 

 to a rough awn about 3 lines long : floret equalling the lower glume ; the lower palet 

 very rough on the midrib which terminates just below its tip ; upper palet about 

 equalling the lower, rough at apex. Torrey, Flora N. York, ii. 448, t. 153. 



Oregon, Howell. Common on the Atlantic coast, growing along the lakes and the borders of 

 rivers quite across the continent, and very likely to be found within the State. 



S. GRAOILIS, Trin., a slender species 1 to 3 feet high, with rough and rigid leaves and shorter 

 and closely appressed spikes. Ranging from Oregon to Texas and found in alkaline soils in all 

 parts of Nevada, Watson. It doubtless occurs in Northeastern California. 



28. BOUTELOTJA, Lagasca. GRAMA GRASS. 



Spikelets in solitary or racemed spikes, sessile and crowded in two rows upon one 

 side of a flattened rhachis, 2 - several-flowered ; only the lowest floret perfect, the 

 others more or less rudimentary and neutral, or rarely staminate. Glumes mem- 

 branous, convex, keeled, the lower a half shorter. Lower palet of the perfect floret 

 chartaceous, 3-toothed or 3-cleft at the apex and terminated by 3 subulate awns ; 

 upper palet 2-nerved, 2-toothed. Stamens 3, usually orange-colored or red. Scales 

 2, fleshy. Styles 2, terminal. Imperfect floret staminate and similar to the other, 

 or more frequently incomplete and pedicellate, of a single palet with 3 teeth and 3 

 setae, or reduced to 3 awns with or without scale-like palets. Very slender grasses, 

 often geniculate at base, with short leaves less than a line broad ; ligule a hairy 

 fringe. 



A rather large American genus, most abundant in the warmer portions, but three species reach- 

 ing the Northern States. Kutriana, Trin., Chondrosium, Desv., Atheropogon, Muhl., and Dinebra, 

 Beauv., are some of the genera under which they had been placed before Dr. Gray properly re- 

 stored Lagasca's earlier name. The species are numerous in Western Texas and all the Rio 

 Grande region, Northern Mexico, etc., where they are generally known as Grama-grass and form 

 the larger share of the pasturage of the dry and elevated plains. 



