No. 8. 

 STIPA PEN NAT A Linn. var. Neo Mexicana Thurb. 



Plant perennial with strong coarse roots. 



Culms erect, densely tufted, not branching, hollow, smooth, 1 to 3 feet tall. 



Leaves of radical shoots numerous, with round, close, smooth sheaths, and 

 narrow closely involute blades, 10 to 12 inches long; of culm 3 to 4, sheaths smooth, 

 usually exceeding internodes; blades like those of radical shoots but shorter; lig- 

 ules membranaceous, rounded, and ciliate above, less than i line long. 



Inflorescence a narrow racemose panicle 4 to 5 inches long; branches almost 

 appressed, the lower 2 to 3 inches long, each bearing 1 to 3 pedicellate spikelets. 



Spikelets 1-flowered; first and second glumes nearly equal, lanceolate, long; 

 awn-pointed, herbaceous, 5 to 7-nerved, l to H inches long; floral glume terete, 

 coriaceous, yellow, clothed throughout with close appressed pubescence, 5 to 7 lines 

 long, contracted at the apex, terminating in a twisted, bent awn, feathered above, 

 4 to 6 inches long; palet narrowly terete, hard, smooth, 5 to 6 lines long. 



Grain narrow, reddish, 2 to 3 lines long. 



PLATE VIII; a, spikelet dissected, about natural size. 

 Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



