57 



BOUTELOUA. 



(Gil AM A Gil ASS.) 



Spikes single or numerous in a racemose, commonly one-eided panicle; spike-lets 

 commonly densely crowded in two rows on one side of the rliacliis, each consist in" <>f 

 one perfect flower and a stalked pedicel bearing empty glumes ;m<l one to tlin-i- s~tiii 

 a wus; outer glumes unequal, acute, keeled, membranaceons ; flowering glume broad.-r, 

 usually thicker, with three to five lobes, teeth, or awns at the apex; palet narrow 

 hyaline, entire or two-toothed, infolded by its glume. 



Bouteloua oligostachya (Grama Grass; Mesquite Grass). 



This is the commonest species on the great plains. It is frequently 

 called buffalo grass, although that name strictly belongs to another 

 plant (Buchloe dactyloides). On the arid plains of the West it is the 

 principal grass and is the main reliance for the vast herds of cattle 

 which are raised there. It grows chiefly in small, roundish patches 

 closely pressed to the ground, the foliage being in a dense, cushion-like 

 mass. The leaves are short and crowded at the base of the short 

 stems. The flowering stalks seldom rise over a foot in height, and bear 

 near the top one or two flower-spikes, each about an inch long, and from 

 one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch wide, standing out at right angles 

 like a small flag floating in the breeze. Where much grazing prevails, 

 however, these flowering stalks are eaten down so much that only the 

 mats of leaves are observable. In bottom-lands and low ? moist ground 

 it grows more closely, and under favorable circumstances Forms apretty 

 close sod, but even then it is not adapted for mowing, although it is 

 sometimes cut, making a very light crop. Under the most favorable 

 circumstances the product of this grass is small compared with the 

 cultivated grasses. It is undoubtedly highly nutritious. Stock of all 

 kinds are fond of it and eat it in preference to any grass growing witji 

 it. It dries and cures on the ground so as to retain its nutritive 

 properties in the winter. No attempt is made by stockmen to feed cat- 

 tle in the winter; they are expected to " rustle around," as the phrase 

 is, and find their living; and in ordinary winters, as the fall of snow is 

 light, they are enabled to subsist and make a pretty good appearance 

 in the spring; but in severe winters there are losses of cattle, some- 

 times very heavy ones, from want of feed. (Plate 62.) 



Bouteloua racemosa (Mesquite Grass; Tall Grama Grass). 



This species ranges from Mexico to British America and east of the 

 Mississippi River, in Wisconsin and Illinois. It is easily distinguished 

 from the others by its taller growth and by the long, slender raceme of 

 twenty to fifty or more slender spikes. These are usually about half 

 an inch long and reflexed. There are from six to ten spikelets on each 

 spike. Although eaten by cattle, especially when made into hay, it is 

 not so much relished as some other kinds. 



There are about a dozen other species of this genus occurring more 

 or less extensively in the Southwest, chiefly in ]S T e\v Mexico and Arizona, 



