154 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



e 



- 



"brownish peduncles." The other characters agree minutely with . 

 Mr, Bentham's admirable detailed description in the work quoted 



above. '^ • 



Leptochloa filiformisj Roem and Schults. Valley of the Gila. 



Scarcely distinct from L. mucronata of the United States. 



Sesleria^ dactyloides, Jfuft. Upper part of the Arkansas. This 

 is the celebrated '^Buffalo grass,^' so called because it constitutes 

 the chief fodder of the wild l3ufFalo5 during the season that it 

 flourishes. I have retained this plant, for the present, where it 

 was placed by Mr. Kuttallj who noticed its anomalous characters. 

 It differs from sesleria^ and indeed from the Torbe FestucacecB^ in 

 its habit, which is that of chondrosium. The stem throws off suck- 

 ers which root at the jointSj from whence leaves and culms of a few 

 inches in height are thrown up. The spikes are two or three in 

 numberj on short spreading peduncles. They are oblong, about 

 ' half an inch in length, and obtuse; bearing from 6 to 8 spikelets, 

 which are unilateral, and form a double row on the racbis. Th 

 Spikelets are usually 2- flowered, but I have occasionally found them 

 with 3 flowers, and even the rudiment of a fourth. The glumes 

 are very unequal, oblong-ovate, coriaceo-membranaceous, carinate 

 and one-nerved, the upper one slightly mucronate. Palea oblong- 

 lanceolate, and somewhat keeled, membranaceous, nearly equal, 

 but longer than the glumes, entire glabrous, except on the keel; 

 the lower 3-nerved, the upper bi-carinate. Anthers large, linear, 

 fulvous. In all the specimens of this collection, as well as in those 

 in my herbarium from numerous other localities, there are no fertile 

 flowers, and only in a few instances rudimentary styles, so that the 

 plant seems to be dioecious or polygamous by abortion. 



Arundo Phragmites, Linn. Valley of the Del Norte, and along 

 the Gila, - 



Andropogon argentens, DC, Kunth. enum, t^ p. 500- Valiey ^ 

 the Gila. A handsome species, with the spikes in a terminal pani- 

 cle, which has a white appearance from the abundant silky hairs o 

 the flowers. 



I, 



A. macronrus, Michx. With the preceding. ^ 



Besides these grasses, there were a few others, mostly ^^^^^^ f 

 in the valley of the Gila, but which I have not determined, as tne 

 specimens are not so complete as could be desired. Among tne 

 are a glyceria^ two agrostidesj hre species of pamcuin and ^\^V 

 {eragrostis^) with large' elongated spikelets. In some parts oi 

 valley of the Del Norte, sorghum vulgare is cultivated, and ^ 

 found partly naturalized. 



EQUISETACE^. 



~ r 



Equisetum hyemale^ Linn. Lower part of the Colorado. 



FILICES. 



Adiantum tenerum, Swartz. Valley of the Gila* This ^P^^!^^ 

 is widely spread over the southern part of North America,, and J 



