86 



may be called the grass of the country ; it constitutes the chief forage upon the dryest 

 bench lands, where it is called bunch grass, or, on account of its reddish color, red 

 top. Another local name is red-topped Buffalo grass. In dry situations the culms 

 are low and slender, and the foliage short and scant, but when growing in rich soil 

 along streams it makes a luxuriant growth of stems and foliage, 2 to 3 feet high, and 

 a field of it in bloom presents as fine an appearance as does a field of Kentucky blue 

 grass, and the produce per acre is nearly the same. This grass and Kceleria cris- 

 tata are usually associated, and both bloom about the same time — from the 15th to 

 the 30th June. As fine a field of natural grasses as I saw in Montana contained 

 Poa tenuifolia, Kcderia cristata, Stipa viridula, and 8tipa eomata as the leading 

 species, the Poa being the most abundant. 



GjLYCEKIA, H. Br. 



Spikelets terete or flattish, several to man) 7 flowered, in a narrow 

 or diffuse panicle, the rhachis smooth and readily disarticulating be- 

 tween the flowers ; outer glumes shorter than the flowers, unequal, 

 membranaceous, one to three nerved, nnawned ; flowering glumes 

 membranaceous to subcoriaceous, obtuse, awnless, more or less hya 

 line and denticulate at the apex, - rounded (never keeled) on the back, 

 five to nine nerved, the nerves separate and all vanishing before 

 reaching the apex ; palet about as long as its glume, two-keeled, en- 

 tire or bifid at the apex. 



The species of this genus are not of much agricultural importance. 

 They mostly grow in wet or swampy ground, and where found in 

 abundance can be utilized for pasturage or hay-making. 



1. G. acutiflora, Torr. Maine to Tennessee. 



2. G. angustata, Fries. Alaska, Arctic coast, and Hudson's Bay. 



3. G. arundinacea, Kih. (G. aquatica of American authors.) Tall 



Meadow grass. Reed Meadow grass. 

 This species is widely diffused in the northern portions of the 

 United States and Canada, and in the Rocky Mountains from New 

 Mexico to Montana. It has a stout, erect, leafy culm, 3 to 4 feet 

 high. The leaves are a foot or two long, a quarter to half an inch 

 wide, flat, and somewhat rough on the edges. The panicle is large, 

 9 to 15 inches long, and much branched. 



4. G. Canadensis, Trin. Rattlesnake grass. Tall Quaking grass. 



Maine to Minnesota, and south to Pennsylvania. 

 A grass belonging to the northern portion of the United States, 

 usually found in mountainous districts, in swamps, and river bor- 

 ders, growing in clumps. The culms are stout, about 3 feet high, 

 smooth and leafy. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, 6 to 9 inches 



