GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



65 



blades two to five inches long, flat, rough, and grayish green; 



spikes nodding, three to five inches long, the spreading awns making 



them nearly as broad ; spikelets in threes, on opposite sides of the 



flattened jointed rachis ; only the central one produces a seed, the 



lateral flowers being sterile; glumes equal, rigid, 



narrow and bristle-pointed, placed at the side of 



the compressed spikelet which is placed with its 



back against the spike; the lemma of the fertile 



flower is armed with a long, sharply barbed awn, 



and the sterile flowers have three apiece, so that 



each spikelet has seven awns, all barbed. These 



rough-awned seeds cling to the hair and the wool 



of animals, and are carried by the wind, and by 



the water of irrigating ditches, along which the 



pest loves to grow although it adapts itself to 



almost any soil, even the dry, alkaline regions 



where few other grasses thrive. 



Means of control 



Mowing the grass so early and so frequently as 

 to prevent the formation of the barbed seed- 

 heads. If the infestation is new and the plants 

 are not too numerous, hand-pull and destroy 

 them. Large areas may be burned over, killing 

 the plants and any seeds on the surface. Culti- 

 vation of the ground will exterminate the weed, 

 care being taken to leave no stragglers along fence 

 rows and ditches. 



LITTLE BARLEY 



Hdrdeum pusillum, Nutt. 



FIG. 32. 

 Wild Barley or 

 Squirrel-tail 

 (Hordeum juba- 

 tum). X J. 



Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom: Late May to June. 



Seed-lime: June to July. 



Range: Ontario to British Columbia, southward to Arkansas, 



Texas, and California. On the Atlantic Coast from Virginia to 



Florida. 

 Habitat : Plains ; has a preference for saline soil. 



