plant and Pease (1964) regarded it as being native but rather local in occurrence. 

 However, he also notes that this valuable wildfowl food had been planted in 

 Lake Umbagog sometime around 1920 for ducks. Other attempts to establish 

 viable colonies in shallow bodies of water have been made by wildlife groups for 

 many years. Some have survived and spread. Thus, it is difficult to determine 

 whether a particular colony is truly native. 



Some species such as Red Fescue (Festuca rubra), Redtop (Agrostis 

 stolonifera) and Quack Grass (Agropyron repens), whose present-day distribu- 

 tions are circumboreal, sometimes grow in undisturbed habitats along the coast 

 of Maine and eastern Canada and may appear to be native. Quack Grass is an 

 introduced species which has been able to become established in some 

 undisturbed sites. Red Fescue is native, but many European varieties are used in 

 seed mixtures for pastures in northern regions and thus there is some 

 intergradation between the native and introduced races. As to the status of 

 Redtop as a native, this is simply unknown. Some authors such as Hitchcock 

 (1935, 1951) feel it is native while others such as Hulten (1962) regard it as 

 introduced to North America. 



This work attempts to include all native species of grasses of the state and 

 those introduced species which have become naturalized. All introduced species 

 which show a tendency to persist or spread from cultivation are also included. 

 Introduced species which have not been collected in the last 50 years do not 

 appear to be constituents of the present flora and have been omitted from the 

 treatment. 



The habitat, distribution and state of abundance of each grass are given, 

 although it must be recognized that many grasses may occur in varying habitats. 

 Where species occur widely throughout the state they may be presumed to grow 

 in most of the towns. Others are of limited distribution either because of the 

 infrequent occurrence of specialized habitats or because ecological requirements 

 confine them to certain parts of the state. Species with Hmited distributions have 

 been mapped. The maps are based on herbarium material and field work. The 

 most extensive collecting has been done in Coos County by Pease and in 

 Strafford County by Hodgdon. Thus, some maps may show a degree of bias 

 toward these two counties. The least collecting has been done in Belknap and 

 Sullivan Counties. Field studies have included introduced species and all native 

 species except Eragrostis hypnoides, E. minor, Triplasis purpurea, Sporobolus 

 cryptandrus and Panicum longifolium. 



In general the treatment follows Gray's Manual of Botany (Fernald, 1950) 

 in an effort to facilitate reference to it and to other standard floristic works. 

 Thus, circumscription of traditional tribes is maintained. Much modern research 

 has led to considerable alteration of subfamilial and tribal concepts and the 

 reader is referred to Grass Systematics (Gould, 1968) for a thorough, well 

 documented modern treatment of grasses occurring in the United States. 

 Notation of Gould's assignment of genera is made when differing from the 

 traditional. 



All varieties of grasses recognized in Gray's Manual which are said to occur 

 in our range have been carefully evaluated and only those taxa which can clearly 

 be recognized at the infraspecific level have been included. Varietal distinctions 

 among introduced species are difficult to discern outside their natural range due 

 to hybridization, introgression and domestication. Thus, infraspecific distinc- 

 tions have not been attempted within alien species in this treatment. 



