138 



A MANUAL OF FARM GRASSES 



over 

 late 



1/2 inch long, near the top. The female or pistil- 

 flowers (these bearing the . seed) are in little green 

 clusters or heads hidden among the leaves. 

 The flowers of both sorts are inconspicuous 

 and might not be noticed except by a 

 / close observer. Buffalo grass extends 



/ from the Dakotas to Texas, and is the 



dominant range grass in Kansas and 

 Nebraska. The sod of which the early 

 settlers built sod houses consisted 

 chiefly of buffalo grass. 



Grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis (H. 

 B. K.) Lag.; B. oligostachya Torr.) is 

 not creeping, either by stolons or 

 rootstocks, but where the grass is 

 abundant, as in the rich soil of the' 

 Great Plains, the bunches are so close 

 together that they form a continuous 

 covering. Upon hills and upon more 

 arid soil of the Southwest the plants 



occur 



usually 



iso- 



33. Curly Mesquite. An old plant with runners which produce 

 new plants; an old flower stem with a seed head from which the 

 spikelets hav» fallen. At the left is a young seed head or spike. 



