IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS. 11 



about 1 inch long, instead of being cylindrical and having short awns 

 on the glumes like the cultivated species, is ellipsoid or ovate-oblong, 

 the awns about the length of the glumes. 



Like the cultivated species, mountain timothy is a perennial plant 

 and has the sheaths of the upper portion of the leafy culms loose as 

 compared with the lower ones. The spikelike panicle is usually 

 purple in color, and the glumes of the spikelets are slightly fringed on 

 the back. 



Mountain timothy is confined to alpine and subalpine regions. In 

 the region studied it is closely restricted to the Hudsonian zone. It 

 is a plant of turfy habit, growing in moist meadows and swales, 

 around springs, and along banks of streams. Often the stands are 

 dense and pure. In some places, however, the keenest competition 

 exists between the mountain timothy and certain sedges and rushes, 

 the result being that one species predominates here and another there. 

 Since it grows characteristically in boggy or nearly saturated soils, 

 mountain timothy wilts beyond recovery even though there may be a 

 rather high percentage of moisture in the substratum. The five 

 specimens tested for drought resistance persisted only until the water 

 content was decreased to an average of 14 per cent. 



The flower stalks are produced later than those of vegetation in 

 drier situations, since the moister soils are slower in warming up in 

 the spring. Usually the stalks begin to appear about July 15, and 

 are aH produced by the end of the first week in August. Mature seeds 

 can generally be found after August 15, and continue to ripen until 

 about the middle of September. 



The fertility of the seed crop is considerably above the average for 

 a typical subalpine herbaceous plant. The average per cent for all 

 tests was 69.5, the maximum germination of 76 being obtained in 

 1909 and the minimum of 58.2 in 1907. 



When compared with the average marsh or bog species, mountain 

 timothy ranks high as a forage plant. Early in the summer it is 

 considered by stockmen to be a bit too succulent or " washy," but 

 since sheep naturally avoid its habitat, which is invariably moist at 

 that season, there is little demand for it then. As the season ad- 

 vances, however, the soil becomes drier, and the latter part of the 

 summer this grass is grazed with relish. Mountain timothy remains 

 green and tender unusually late in the fall, and, compared with other 

 species grazed at that time of the year, it is eaten with unusual relish. 



SLENDER REED-GRASS. 

 (Cinna latifolia.) 



The genus Cinna is represented by but three species in the United 

 States. Of these, slender reed-grass (Cinna latifolia} is the most 

 important in the localities studied. 



