166 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Plant annual, erect, often much branched at base, the culms becoming geniculate 



below, or in open ground spreading or even prostrate-spreading: culms rather succulent 

 below, as much as 1 meter tall or in rich soil even taller, compressed below, smooth, 

 scabrous just below the panicle; sheaths smooth, compressed-keeled; ligule a ciliate 

 membrane about 1 mm. long; blades as much as 25 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, flat, 

 twisted in a loose spiral, the upper surface along the upper half facing downward, 

 acuminate-pointed, often glaucous, scabrous on the upper surface, toward the base 

 beset with long lax hairs, glabrous beneath; panicle dense, evenly cylindric, spike- 

 like, yellow at maturity, mostly 5 to 10 cm. long, sometimes longer, about 1 cm. thick, 

 rounded at the summit, sometimes slightly interrupted at the base, the axis densely 

 pubescent; branches very short, mostly less than 1 mm. long, pubescent like the axis, 

 each branch bearing one developed spikelet and below this a cluster of short branchlets 

 ending in bristles, sometimes a second small and undeveloped spikelet borne in one of 

 these secondary clusters; branchlets irregular in length, mostly less than 1 mm. long, 

 bearing 1 to several bristles, the whole cluster on each branch being usually more than 

 5 and sometimes more than 20; bristles antrorsely scabrous, yellow, irregular in length, 

 the longer ones 2 to 3 times as long as the spikelet; spikelets about 3 mm. long, flat on 

 one side, strongly convex on the other, oval in outline but slightly narrowed toward 

 the apex; first glume ovate, about half as long as spikelet, pale, with 3 streng green 

 nerves and an outer inconspicuous pair; second glume about two-thirds as long as the 

 spikelet, with 5 strong nerves and 1 or 2 additional weaker pairs; sterile lemma about 

 as long as the spikelet, 5-nerved, the base embracing the edges of the fertile lemma for 

 about half way, containing a well-developed palea but no stamens; fertile floret 

 strongly marked with numerous transverse ridges. 



This species can be distinguished from Chaetoehloa geniculata, its closest relative, by 

 its annual duration, and by the thicker, more succulent base of the stem; and from 

 C. viridis, a common accompanying weedy species, by the color and shape of the 

 mature panicle, and by the twisted blades. 



Commonly known as yellow foxtail, sometimes as pigeon grass. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



A common weed in cultivated soil and waste places in the eastern states; introduced 



from Europe; now widely distributed in temperate regions, rare in the Tropics.. 



Ontario: Gait, Herriot 71. Kingston, Fowler in. 1897. 



New Brunswick: Shediac Cape, Hubbard 759. 



British Columbia: Sicamous, Macoun 7. 



Maine: Westbrook, Richer 579. East Auburn, Merrill 14. Bangor, Knight 20, 22. 

 Orono, Harvey 1251. Augusta, Scribner in 1869. 



New Hampshire: Jaffrey, Robinson 284. 



Vermont: Manchester, Day 208. Rutland, Kirk 1026. 



Massachusetts: South Hadley, Clark in 18S7. Townsend, Fletcher. Boston, Hitch- 

 cock in 1903. . Barrington, Pollard in 1894. 



Connecticut: South Glastonbury, Wilson 1263. 



New York: North Hannibal, Pearce in 1883. Shushan, Dobbin 6. Oxford, Coville 

 in 1884. 



New Jersey: Weehawken, Kearney in 1894; Van Sickle in 1895. Camden, Parker 

 in 1863. 



Pennsylvania: Easton, Porter in 1896. Conewago, Small in 1888. Philadelphia, 

 Scribner in 1878. Lancaster, Heller 4818. Chester County, W/ndle in 1901. 



Ohio: Cincinnati, Lloyd 3614. Sandusky, Morr is A 140. Oberlin, Ricksecker in 1894. 



Indiana: Lafayette, Dorner 73. 



Illinois: Glasford, Wilcox 176. Jackson County, French in 1905. Naperville > 

 Umbach in 1895. Chicago, Gates in 1905. Wady Petra, V. H. Chase 76. 



