288 FORAGE PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE 



inches high. Where the aerial stems are supported by 

 shrubs, they may reach a height of 3 feet. The leaves are 



flat and spreading, and 

 differentiated from all 

 similar grasses by the 

 ligule which consists of 

 a circle of white hairs. 

 The flowers are in slen- 

 der, spreading spikes 

 one-half to one inch 

 long, arranged in um- 

 bels of 4 to 6. 



In the ordinary form 

 of Bermuda-grass, 

 numerous stout root- 

 stocks as large as a lead 

 pencil are produced, 

 and by the growth of 

 these a single plant 

 may cover an area of 

 several square yards. 

 In very hard soil the 

 rootstocks become 

 stout runners 1 to 3 feet 

 long, with much longer 

 nodes and shorter 

 leaves than the aerial 



stems. St. Lucie-grass and other forms have no under- 

 ground rootstocks, but are much less hardy. 



280. Agricultural history. The date of the introduc- 

 tion of Bermuda-grass into the United States is not defi- 

 nitely ascertained. Spillman gives a circumstantial ac- 

 count of its introduction in 1812 at Greensboro, Georgia. 



FIG. 26. Bermuda-grass (Cynodon dac- 

 tylori). a, spikelet; b, floret. 



