50 FARMER'S BOOK OF GRASSES 



BUCHLOA. 



B. DACTYLOIDES. Buffalo Grass. 



Mr. S. B. Buckley of Austin, Texas, makes the following 

 statements about this grass : 



"This is one of the best grasses of Texas for pasturage, if not 

 the very best ; being perennial, it affords food tor stock both 

 summer and winter. Even in midwinter it presents a green 

 covering over many hills and prairies in this vicinity. It is al- 

 so the best grass for lawns indigenous to Texas. It is not con- 

 fined to the State, but extends over the western plains to the 

 Rocky Mountains, as far north as Missouri, and perhaps farther. 

 It thrives on every variety of soil, growing on poor, gravelly 

 uplands, and also in rich river bottoms, but it mostly abounds 

 on the prairies among the mesquit trees, scattered over their 

 surface throughout a large portion of our State, whence it is 

 commonly called mesquit grass in Texas. This name, however, 

 is given to two or three other species of grass which are often as- 

 sociated with it. On the western plains it is known by the 

 name of buffalo grass, hence its botanic name (Buchloa.) 



"It seldom grows more than six or eight inches in height, in 

 flowering stems, but its leaves are long. It also grows by sto- 

 lons or runners, by which means it extends rapidly and soon 

 covers the surface. Unlike most grasses it is dioacious, that is, 

 it has male and female flowers on different stems ; the female 

 flowers and seed are near the root, and seldom seen or noticed 

 unless search is made for them. On this account its true nature 

 was long unknown to botanists, its male flowers only having 

 been collected. I have been told by many people in Texas that 

 it does not bear seed. When in flower it can easily be known 

 from every other species of mesquit by its upright staminate or 

 sterile flowering stems, with one or two short, horizontally ex- 

 tending branches, one or two inches long, densely crowded with 

 yellowish brown florets. 



"The Buchloa is not difficult to eradicate, nor is it ever 

 troublesome in cultivated fields, because it has so few seeds. No 

 one need fear introducing it on his plantation, either for lawns 

 or pasturage. All kinds of stock are extremely fond of it, from 

 which we infer that it is very sweet and nutritious. To the peo- 

 ple of Texas it is certainly one of the most valuable grasses for 

 pasturage, yielding as it does an abundance of food both winter 

 and summer, nor do the droughts of summer hurt its vitality. 

 In extreme droughts often all the grasses seem dead, but a rain 

 will make this mesquit grass green and growing in a few hours. 

 Even when dry, weather-beaten and seemingly dead, it is still 

 good food for stock." 



Mr. H. W. Ravenel writes of this grass as follows : "This 

 remarkable grass is found 'in the Western prairies, from the Brit- 



