GBAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



31 



The Indians of Arizona and Southern California use the seed of 

 this grass for food ; cattle are very fond of it when green and suc- 

 culent ; and in some parts of the country, 

 particularly in the flooded river-bottom 

 lands of the Southwest, it yields heavy vol- 

 unteer crops of hay. But generally it is 

 considered a weed. Its seed is nearly 

 always found with that of other grasses 

 and of clover. (Fig. 8.) 



Culms stout, smooth, two to five feet 

 tall. Sheaths compressed, smooth ; blades 

 six inches to nearly two feet long, a half- 

 inch to an inch wide, smooth, with a 

 strong central nerve and margins some- 

 what rough. Panicle large, four inches 

 to a foot or more long, variable, composed 

 of numerous sessile branches, erect or 

 spreading, or the lower ones reflexed. 

 Spikelets one-seeded, nearly sessile, ovate, 

 in three or four irregular, densely crowded 

 rows on one side of the rachis, varying in 

 color from deep purple to pale green, some- 

 times long-awned, but often without 

 awns, the glumes unequal, sharp-pointed, 

 and bristly-hairy. Seeds about an eighth 

 of an inch long, pointed ovoid, plump. 



FIG. 8. Barnyard 

 grass (Echinochloa crus- 

 galli). X J. 



Means of control 



Cutting so frequently that no seed can mature. In cultivated 

 ground the weed is easily kept in subjection by hoe-cutting while 

 small. 



YELLOW FOXTAIL GRASS 

 Setaria glauca, Beauv. 



Other English names: Pigeon Grass, Pussy Grass, Summer Grass, 



Wild Millet. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : July to September. 

 Seed-time: August to October. 



