DESCRIPTION OF ALKALI-INDICATING PLANTS 79 



Scirpus spp. Rushes are tufted plants with creeping 

 root-stocks, the stem sheathed or leafy at the base and the 

 spikelets in lateral cluster. Saline soils growing these plants 

 are generally irreclaimable without considerable expense. 



Spartina gracilis. Marsh grass is a perennial with 

 simple and rigid slender reed-like stems coming from ex- 

 tensively creeping scaly root-stocks. Stems generally 

 8 to 23 inches high and somewhat taller than the spreading, 

 two-ranked, rough, and rigid leaves at its base. Spikes 

 4 to 10, mostly sessile, closely appressed to the nearly 

 smooth rachis. 



Sporobolus airoides. Tussock or dropseed, or purple 

 top grass, has a stout coarse and rigid base or trunk often 

 18 to 20 inches high. The tufts of grass are often i to 3 

 feet in height. Open, feathery, pyramidal panicles with 

 a purplish tinge in late summer are borne from the base 

 trunk. Leaves smooth beneath but harsh above and taper 

 gradually from base to a fine point somewhat rolled in- 

 wardly at the end. 



Suaeda spp. Inkweed, or saltwort, perennial shrub, 

 with small, fleshy, stem-like leaves. Growing plants 

 generally i to 2 feet in height but the dark-colored brush 

 left when the plant ceases growth in the winter lies close 

 to the surface of the ground. 



Triglochin maritima. Arrow grass gives the appear- 

 ance of an arrow because of a naked jointless stem bearing 

 an arrowhead shaped greenish flower and having cylindri- 

 cal rush-like leaves at the base which are shorter than the 

 flower stem. About i to 3 feet in height and rather stout 

 appearing. T. palustris similar to above but seldom 

 reaches a height greater than i foot and the basal leaves 

 are narrower than 2 mm., while leaves of above are from 

 2 to 4 mm. wide. 



