IMPORTANT RANGE PLANTS. 13 



mon name, alpine redtop is typically a plant of the high grazing lands. 

 On the Wallowa National Forest it is not found below about 6,500 

 feet. It grows well up to and even a little beyond timber line, having 

 approximately the same distribution as mountain bunchgrass, with 

 which it is commonly associated. 



This species, like a great many typical upland plants, is short, 

 rarely exceeding 8 inches in height (Plate VIII). Unlike cultivated 

 redtop, it is distinctly tufted instead of stoloniferous, and has a large 

 number of narrow basal leaves from one-third to one-half the length 

 of the culms. The panicle is rather contracted, about 2 inches long, 

 and the spikelets are purple-green merging into red, one-flowered, 

 with awnless glumes. 



Alpine redtop seems best adapted to a well disintegrated basaltic 

 soil relatively rich in humus, characteristic of glades and open pla- 

 teaus. It wilts beyond recovery in soils of this type having a water 

 content of from 8.5 to as low as 7 per cent. Good stands have 

 often been seen in rather moist habitats, but, as a rule, it succeeds 

 best and is more commonly met with in well-drained soils. Being a 

 bunchgrass, it never completely covers the ground, but in certain 

 localities it is sometimes the main species. 



The average time during which the flower stalks were sent forth 

 in 1907, 1908, and 1909 was four weeks. In 1907 they first showed 

 on July 5 and continued to be sent forth until August 15. The seed 

 crop was fairly well ripened at the end of the first week in September. 



The germination power of the seed in 1907 was 29 per cent; in 

 1908, 38 per cent; and in 1909, 41 per cent. For an upland peren- 

 nial grass these figures are considerably above the average, and in 

 favorable situations the reproduction was good. 



While not eaten with the same relish as are a number of its close 

 relatives, alpine redtop is grazed by sheep to a considerable extent, 

 particularly in the fore part of the season. After about August 15, 

 when all the flower stalks have been sent up, the leaf blades become 

 rather tough and unpalatable, and other plants are then preferred. 

 The shortness of its leaf blades, its scattered growth, and the compara- 

 tively short period during which it is eaten with relish affect its 

 importance as a forage plant. 



Pine Grass. 

 {Calamagrostis suksdorfii.) 



The genus Calamagrostis, to which pine grass belongs, contains 

 about 130 species widely distributed throughout temperate and 

 mountain regions. Thirty-eight species, mostly native, occur in 

 North America, mainly in the West. Only three occur in the Southern 

 States, and six of those States are without a single species. 



