IDENTIFICATION OF GRASSES. 



9 



FF. Sheaths not hairy. 



G. Collar hairy on the back. 



46. Flat-stemmed panic (Panicum anceps). 

 GG. Collar not hairy on the back. 



H. Leaves one-sixteenth inch wide. 



47. Slender meadow grass (Eragrostis pilosa), 

 HH. Leaves one-eighth inch wide. 



48. Stink-grass {Eragrostis cilianensis). 



DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF FORTY-EIGHT SEEDLING GRASSES. 



1. Perennial rye-grass (Loiium percnne; fig. 5). 



A perennial, glabrous, dark-green, tufted grass; leaves folded in the 

 bud ; collar narrow, glabrous ; auricles small, slender, clawlike ; ligule 

 membranous, short, obtuse, toothed near the tip ; sheaths reddish below 



ground, smooth ; blades flat, prominently 

 nerved above, glossy and smooth beneath, 

 long-linear, about one-eighth inch or more 

 wide, sharp pointed. 



This grass makes considerable winter growth in 

 the Southern States and starts growth early in 

 the spring. It closely resembles Italian rye-grass 

 and meadow fescue when young, from which it is 

 readily distinguished by its folded leaf bud. 



Fig. 5. — Perennial rye-grass 

 (Loiium perenne) . 1 



Fig. 6. 



St. Augustine grass (Stenotaphrum 

 americanum ) . 



2. Carpet grass (Axonopus compressits) . 



A perennial grass with creeping stolons, forming a dense turf; leaves 

 folded in the bud ; collar narrow, indistinct, with a few hairs at margins ; 

 auricles none ; ligule a fringe of short hairs ; sheaths glabrous, diverging 

 from stems ; blades flat, usually short, linear, about one-eighth to one- 



1 Bach figure shows a young plant and a detailed drawing of the leaf at the collar 

 illustrating the ligule and other appendages. 



61167°— Bull. 461—17 



