NATIVE GRASSES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 88 



(k'Torested areas are closely sodded with perennial <:;rasses, is 

 struck with the iiisignitleaiice of penuaneut grasses there ami 

 the nlnioat entire ahsenee of sod. 



To speak of Arizona and Southern California: In the hottoni 

 of the valleys and alon;; the line of the water-courses, though 

 water may not flow over the surface except tluring the period of 

 summer or winter rains, aiul in soil more or less impregnated 

 with alkali, the traveler occasionally nu'ets with mitural meadows. 



Difffichlis inaritima. with its creeping roots forming a close 

 network in the soil, and Spavoholiis ]\'n)f/ifii, growing in great 

 chimps, chiefly form these meadows. The fornu'r has wiry 

 stems, and its foliage is tough, but animals accustomed to suh- 

 duing spring opuntias and thorny shrubs thrive on it. The 

 latter is a rigid, coarse grass, its culms often four to five feet 

 high and as thick as a goose (piill. When its stems arc but 

 recently grown animals browse away tlu-ir upper portion, and 

 cull out somewhat from amongst the bristling stumps of the 

 stems of former years, standing dense and stiff, some two feet 

 in height, the long radical leaves of the plant. To arriv(> after 

 nightfall and a long forced drive to reach grass and 

 water npon such a meadow, and to be compelled to picket our 

 horses on such pasturage, closely gmiwed away by the herds of 

 ranches far and near, seems hard, but from ^lay till August the 

 valleys and plains afTord nothing better. 



Sporoholus criipfnndrus var. stricfns has much the habit and 

 value of S. Wri(jhtii. Sporohulns <^s;^><'/•//W///^s occupies j)atches (»f 

 wet soil with a fine herbage, and its abundant and leafy sterile 

 culms yield forage more easily appreciated by animals. Panirum 

 ohtusum growing in low lands, particularly in the partial shade 

 of shrubs, contributes a trifle of forage by its long, wiry, but 

 leafy creeping stems. 



In low lands scattered tufts of Andropoyon saccharoides and 

 Trichloris fasciculata contribute a better food to animals, as 



