Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 223 



Most of the leaves, especially the long ones, appear gradually 

 to die in late autumn, first turning reddish and then bleaching out 

 to a dead white. Some green leaves can be raked up all winter, 

 however. The green leaves late in the season are frequently coated 

 with colonies of a small white Vorticella and, oddly enough, the 

 whitened leaves are similarly coated with a green Vorticella. 



The little mollusk Ancylus is frequently found on the leaves of 

 this plant, especially near the base. The only other place it was 

 found was occasionally attached to the outside of the shell of 

 Viviparus. 



The increase of this, as well as other plants in the lake, is prob- 

 ably due to the more active hunting of water-fowl, which gives the 

 plants a better opportunity to thrive. 



FAMILY 15. GRAMINE^E. GRASS FAMILY 



52. BROOM BEARD-GRASS 



SCHIZACHYRIUM SCOPARIUM (Michx.) Nash 



The broom beard-grass, generally known throughout the state 

 as broom-sedge, is usually found only on barren sandy slopes. It 

 is a coarse rough tussocky grass. It hardly attracts attention dur- 

 ing the summer, but in late autumn its scattered clumpy growth, 

 the harshness of its outline, and the sereness of its brown re- 

 lieved only by the feathery tufts of its plumed seed, scattered 

 scantly along the stem, all unite to make the regions where 

 it grows especially desert and desolate. There were a few 

 areas on the slope about the lake where it grew. The hill near 

 shore south of McOuat's was almost covered with it, and some grew 

 south of the Plank cottage, a little grew by Murray's, and some 

 south, along the railroad. 



53. FORKED BEARD-GRASS 



ANDROPOGON FURCATUS Muhl. 



This grass differs considerably in appearance and habits from 

 the preceding. It is a tall, rather handsome grass, with a stiff 

 wiry culm, the inflorescence on diverging narrow spikes like those 

 of the crab-grass, only on a larger scale. Coulter, in his report 

 on the plants of the state, says that it is "a common form on prairie 

 soil, either moist or dry, where it furnishes a large amount of hay." 

 In the neighborhood of the lake it grows in small scattered clumps 

 in open places in dry soil and is not abundant enough to be made 

 use of. It occurs both east and west of the lake. 



