128 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the base (A. howellii Scribn.) or from about the middle (A. exarata 
microphylla (Steud.) Hitche.) or from just below the apex (A. spica- 
{ venti, A. ellottiana). 
if The hairs on the callus 
NW are usually minute, but 
are half as long as the 
lemma in A. hallii Vasey. 
Three of our species are 
annuals, A. spéca-venti 
L., introduced from 
Europe; A. exigua 
Thurb., of California; 
and A. elliottiana Schullt., 
of the Southern States. 
The genus furnishes 
several species that are 
important forage plants 
either under cultivation 
or in the mountain mead- 
ows of the Western States. 
The most important is 
Agrostis palustris Huds. 
(A. alba of authors’) 
(PUY oXGE Te a Seroaencicg ye 
known usually as redtop 
because of the reddish 
1The name Agrostis alba L. 
(Sp. Pl. 68. 1753) is of doubtful 
application. In the original 
publication the name is founded 
Solely on the citation ‘ Roy. 
lugdb. 59” (Royen, Flora Ley- 
densis). Royen’s citation of 
syncnym refers to Poa (appar- 
ently P. nemoralis). There are 
several sheets in  Linnzus’s 
herbarium, one of which bears 
the name, Agrostis alba, in 
Linneus’s script. These speci- 
mens are the Agrostis alba as 
generally understood, but, 
Fic. 67.—Redtop, Agrostis ue Plant, X 4; spikelet, open and closed, and floret, 
x 5. 
