AGROSTIDE^ 



203 



the lemmas that protrude from the spikelets giving the 

 spike a soft furry appearance. 



Alopecurus pratensis L. (Fig. 39). Meadow foxtail. Perennial; 

 culms erect from a short creeping base, smooth, 1 to 3 feet high; 

 sheaths smooth, the uppermost 

 somewhat inflated ; ligule membra- 

 naceous, truncate, 2 to 4 mm. 

 long; blades flat, smooth beneath, 

 rough above, 2 to 6 inches long; 

 panicle dense, cylindrical, 1^ to 

 3 inches long, }4 inch thick; 

 glumes 5 mm. long, equal, awn- 

 less, 3-nerved, ciUate on the keel, 

 connate at base, the broad, obtuse 

 5-nerved lemma nearly as long, 

 bearing from near the base a 

 slender dorsal slightly bent awn, 

 exserted about 5 mm. 



234. Agrostis L. — Bent- 

 grass. A large genus found 

 all over the world but 

 sparsely represented in tropi- 

 cal America. The North 

 American species are nearly 

 all perennials and are especi- 

 ally abundant in the western 

 mountains. Spikelets 1-flow- 

 ered; lemma delicate, shorter 

 than the nearly equal glumes, 

 often awned from the back; 

 palea small or wanting; in- 

 florescence an open or contracted panicle. The wild species 

 are mostly important constituents of grazing areas in the 

 mountains. Redtop (A. alba), cultivated as a meadow- 

 grass, is a perennial 1 to 4 feet tall, with rootstocks, flat 



Fig. 39. Alopecurus pratensis. Plant 

 reduced; spikeletand floret, X3. (U. S. 

 Dept. Agr., Div. Agrost., Bull. 20.) 



