ii4 Muhlenbergia, Volume 5 



Other Grasses 



Under the international rules of nomenclature the name 

 Setaria must be restored in place of Chactocliloa, Chamaeraphis 

 or Ixophorus, which have severally been proposed to replace it. 

 Several old world species of this genus are common over a large 

 part of North America, excepting the extreme north. A single 

 one of these, S. gla7tca, has made its appearance in southern 

 California. It has been collected at a number of places, as Los 

 Angeles, San Bernardino, Rialto, and Riverside, so that it has 

 had ample opportunities to establish itself. Apparently, how- 

 ever, while it may continue to grow for a number of years where 

 it once appears, it lacks the ability of self diffusion. A marked 

 instance occurred under my own observation. Over a ten-acre 

 grain field this grass came up abundantly, evidently from very 

 foul seed, and annually, for six or seven years, it continued to 

 hold possession as an after-math. Then the field was over pas- 

 tured for two or three years, resulting in the permanent disap- 

 pearance of the Setaria. But in all the years it spread only to 

 an adjoining roadside, where it still barely persists. A Mexican 

 and Texan species, S. gracilis, has quite a wide roadside distri- 

 bution in southern California, but apparently is never abundant, 

 and certainly exhibits greater powers of persistence than of dif- 

 fusion. The earliest collections were made at Los Angeles, but 

 it has now appeared sparingly at San Bernardino. This is the 

 grass reported as S. caudata by Davidson, PI. Los Aug. Co. 31; 

 Erythea 1 : 100, and as Ckaetochloa iuihcrbis by Abrams, Fl. 

 Los Ang. 25. 



Very rarely a few stools of timothy or orchard grass are 

 found, but they seldom continue into the second year, and are 

 to be considered as mere waifs. As neither grass is cultivated 

 in this region the opportunities for the introduction of the seed 

 arc very few. Cenchrus tribuloides is well established and in- 

 sing about Colton and Rialto, and doubtless is destined to 

 become a common and serious pest throughout the region. It 

 i- :i grass which, when once it has taken root, can be gotten rid 

 of only by the most persistent effort. Johnson grass {Sorghum 

 halepense) \s quite common by roadsides and in waste ground, 



