GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 47 



self-sown as it ripens, the spikelets dropping entire from the axis. 

 (Fig. 20.) 



Means of control 



Cultivate and fertilize the ground, furnishing humus in order to 

 enable it to retain moisture and support forage of a profitable 

 quality. 



SMALL RUSH-GRASS 



Spordbolus negleclus, Nash. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : July to August. 



Seed-time: August to September. 



Range : New Brunswick to the Dakotas, southward to Virginia and 



Texas. 

 Habitat: Sterile and sandy fields; waste places. 



Similar to the preceding species, but even smaller and more 

 worthless. Culms tufted, six inches to a foot in height, usually 

 decumbent to the first joint and then erect, smooth, often much 

 branched. Sheaths much inflated, rather more than half the 

 length of the internodes ; leaves only about one line wide, smooth 

 below, rough at base above, with very attenuate point. Panicles 

 very slender and almost completely enclosed and hidden in the 

 sheaths, even the terminal one partly so. Spikelet about a tenth 

 of an inch long, the glumes, lemma, and palea all nearly equal, 

 smooth, acute, thin in texture, white and shining; sowing itself 

 when ripe by dropping entire to the ground. 



Means of control the same as for the preceding plant. 



SMUT-GRASS 

 Spordbolus indicus, R. Br. 



Other English names: Indian Rush Grass, Indian Drop-seed. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : July to September. 



Seed-time: August to October. 



Range : Virginia to Arkansas, southward to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Habitat: Fields, meadows, and waste places. 



This grass came from the tropics and is common in all the warmer 

 regions of the world. It is good forage only when very young, the 



