1889.] BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 2 



35 



along the ridges and bluffs. Danthonia compressa, distin- 

 guished by its greener color, much longer and more abundant 

 leaves, taller culms, more elongated panicles and especially bv 

 the longer teeth to the flowering glumes, was the most abund- 

 ant species of all and the chief component of the luxuriant and 

 dense turf covering the extensive meadows of the treeless areas 

 on the mountain top. The abundance of this grass and the ex- 

 cellent condition of the cattle grazing on it clearly showed 

 its importance as a forage plant. It is a species found along 

 the mountains from the Carolinas and Tennessee to New 

 England, and wherever it grows abundantly yields excellent 

 fodder for horses and cattle. A cool climate and abundant 



atmospheric humidity are apparently essential to its best 

 growth. 



Another species of Danthonia, viz., Danthonia Califor- 

 nia, especially the variety unispicata, occupies a similar 

 position with respect to its abundance and value for forage, 

 in the mountain meadows or ** deer parks " of the Rocky 

 Mountains in Montana. 



The principal native fodder grasses of the high mountain 

 meadows, or as they are familiarly termed in the west, 

 "deer parks,'* are: 



For the Alleghanies : 



Danthonia compressa Austin. 



For the Rooky Mountains in Montana: 



Danthonia Calif wnica var. unispudta Thurb. 

 Danthonia intermedia Vasey. 

 Fertwa scabrella Torr. 



Alopecurus occidentalis Scribn. 



For the mountains of Arizona: 

 Poa Californica Vasey. 

 Muhlenbergia virescens Trin. 

 Muhlenbergia gracilis Trin. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



Pickerel weed pollen. 1 



BYRON D. HALS TED. 



The flowers of the pickerel weed (Pontederia cordataL,.) 

 are strictly trimorphic, as was determined by Mr. W. H. 

 Leggett in 1875. There are six stamens in each blossom, 

 placed in two sets of three each, and a single style. The 



^ead before the Botanical Club of the A. A. A. S., at the Toronto meeting, 1889 



