Noticeable Plants 63 



in close spikes. The plant has a strong, somewhat 

 turpentiny smell. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Grasses:— 



Cynodon dactylon. Bermuda grass. Not properly a desert 

 grass, but has become established in the irrigated areas. 

 It is bright green and close-growing, with small, pointed 

 leaves. It makes good emergency forage. 



Distichlis spicata. Salt grass. A low-growing, pale green 

 or gray grass, leaves in double rank, herring-bone style. 

 It is very common, forming a close sod on moist, and 

 especially on alkaline, soils. Animals will eat it when 

 hard pressed. 



Epicampes rigens. Basket grass, Zacaton. A tall, rigid, 

 slender-stemmed, pale green grass forming large tus- 

 socks 2 to 4 feet high. It grows among rocks near 

 streams, and on dry hills, and though poor fodder is 

 valued by Indian women for basketry purposes. 



Oryzopsis membranacea. Sand grass. A small, tussocky 

 grass with slender stems 6 to 12 inches long, leaves 

 bright green. It is found in sandy soil and makes 

 good forage; also is valuable to the Indians for its 

 edible seeds. 



Panicum urvilleanum. A strong, coarse grass with rather 

 stiff, pale green leaves a foot or more long. It grows 

 in loose dry sand, and has little, if any, forage value. 



Pleuraphis rigida. Blue-stem, Galleta. A coarse-, almost 

 woody-stemmed, stiff grass growing in large dense 

 clumps 2 to 4 feet high, and in the driest of soils. The 

 stems appear dry and dead except at the tips, which 

 are pale bluish green. It is an excellent forage-plant. 



Sporobolus airoides. Zacaton. A coarse, stiff bunch-grass 

 2 or 3 feet high, flowering in loose, spreading panicles. 



Tridens pulchella. A low, tufted grass 2 to 6 inches high, 

 common on dry hills and mesas, often among rocks, 

 with small dense panicles of blossom in which the tips 

 of the flower-bracts are tinged with purple. It has 

 practically no forage value. 



