ADDENDUM. 



So much interest is now felt in the matter of new varieties of grasses, 

 especially by the Western experiment stations, that it is thought best 

 to add descriptions and figures of some additional species which have 

 been recommended for trial. 



The Colorado experiment station, aided by this Department, gave 

 especial attention last summer to the collection of seeds of the native 

 grasses of that region, and some fifty kinds were selected, and will be 

 subjected to cultivation on the arid laud of that section. 



Other western stations will take up the same line of work in the 

 future. The illustrations given are especially valuable for the identifi- 

 cation of the various species by students or by any persons who are in- 

 terested in the subject. 



Panicum gibbum. 



A perennial species, growing in swamps and low, wet ground in the Southern 

 States from North Carolina to Florida. The stem is decumbent, branching and root- 

 ing at the lower joints. The panicle is 3 to 5 inches long, and narrow, the branches 

 being appressed. The leaves are smooth or smoothish, half an inch broad, and 6 to 8 

 inches long. The whole grass is of a deep green color. The flowers drop off soon 

 after flowering. The grass, if it occurs in abundance, would be of considerable value, 

 as it furnishes a good deal of nutritious matter. 



Mr. J. H. Simpson, of Manatee, Fla., writes as follows : 



This most valuable grass seems to have been entirely overlooked as far as its quali- 

 ties for hay and pasturage are concerned. It is perfectly at home in any situation. 

 It usually grows in wet places, with culms 2 or 3 feet high. The late J. N. Harris 

 informed me that he believed that from 3 to 5 tons of most excellent hay could be 

 cut per acre, and that it was an excellent pasture grass. Ho had experimented with 

 it for years. 



(Plate 103.) 



Muhlenbergia comata. 



This species is closely related to M. glomerata. It grows throughout the Rocky 

 Mountain region in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and California, usually on the 

 sandy and alluvial banks of streams. It grows in tufts from^finn, creeping root 

 stocks. The culms are erect, 2 to 3 feet high, and leafy below. Tne panicle is 2 to 

 4 inches long, narrow and close, sometimes interrupted below, generally of a dark 

 lead-color, and of soft texture. The outer glumes are very narrow and acute, and 

 the flowering glume is surrounded at the base by a copious tuft of silky hairs. The 

 slander awn of the flowering glume is three or four times its length. 



(Plate 104.) 



Sporobolus heterolepis (Bunch Grass; Wire Grass). 



This is called bunch grass and wire grass from the abundant, long, 

 wiry loaves and stems. 1 found it a considerable element in the prairies 

 106 



