88 
Sporobolus junceus Kunth. Rush-like Drop-seed-grass; Wire-grass. 
Common in the dry, pine-barren regions of the Southeastern States. It grows to the 
ias of 18 sents to 2 feet, and is of little or no agricultural value. This and 
ristida stricta are the grasses known throughout the South as“ Wire-grass." 
Sporobolus orientalis Kth. Usar-grass. 
A wiry, 5 perennial, with rather short, rigid leaves and diffuse panicles. It is 
ndia, growing upon saline soils, often constituting the entire vege- 
tation ir the extensive usar tracts of northern India. A valuable grass for alka- 
ine or saline soils, yielding a liberal supply 
fodder where other plants are unable t 
exist. 
Sporobolus serotinus. Late Drop-seed-grass. 
A very slender, delicate grass, common in moist, 
sandy soils from Maine to New Jersey and west- 
ward to Michigan. Of no agricultural value. 
Sporobolus vagineflorus Vasey. Southern Pov- 
erty-grass; Prairie-grass. 
A slender, tufted annnak 6 to i uy high, with 
very short narrow simpl , few 
flowered panicles, which are mostly jnclosed 
within the leaf sheaths. This grass grows in 
extending westward to Missouri and sou 
Texas. Of little or no agricultural value. 
Sporobolus wrightii Munro. **Zacaton,” or ‘‘Za- 
cate”-grass; Saccatone; Maton (of the Mexicans). 
(Fig. 84.) : 
A stout, erect perennial, 4 to 8 feet high, with long, 
narrow leaves and a slightly spreading panicle 
12 to 15 inches long. It grows in great clumps, 
produeing a large quantity of coarse, tough 
stems and leaves, which, however, in the regions 
where this grass is native—Arizona and New 
Mexico—yield a hay which is valued for horses 
Fie. ae „ 
and mules. As a hardy pe al for saline 
bottoms subject to flooding or ae e of cultivation, this species deserves 
e. The Indians and Mexicans of Arizona and Lower C California call all 
grasses “zacate,” without any Haico between the spec 
otaphrum Schk. Hard-grass; St. Augustine-grass; Mission- 
grass; Buffalo-grass (in Australia); Pimento-grass (in Jamaica). (Fig. 85.) 
This grass has a wide distribution, being found in the tropical and warmer temper- 
ate regions of botb the Old and New World. In New South Wales it is known 
stems en to the M of 6 inches to a foot or more. St. Au ne- 
grows shores as far north as South Carolina, and is extensively 
used for lawns in Charl eston, S. C., and cities in the South near the coast. It is 
useful for holding sloping embankments, especially those subject to iie. de 
