416 GRAMINE^E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



2. D. sericea, Nutt. Stems not tufted, 1 to 3 feet high : leaves narrow, 

 with sheaths silky-hair;/ at the throat: panicle narrow, the lower rays some- 

 times 2 to 3-flowered and spreading : outer glumes acuminate, much exceed- 

 ing the florets : flowering glumes with very long teeth, and villous with long silky 

 hairs all over or only below and on the margins. — Gray, Man. 640. Colorado to 

 California ; also eastward in the Atlantic States. 



27. SCEEDONNABDUS, Stead. 



Low and branching, often procumbent, chiefly annuals, with narrow leaves 

 and slender spikes. 



1. S. Texanus, Steud. Stems 4 to 2 feet high, leafy below, naked and 

 curved above: panicle of 3 to 10 recurved Fecund distant spikes, 3-angled 

 and rough : outer glumes suddenly narrowing to awn-like points : flowering 

 glume but partly covered by the outer ones. — Leplurus paniculatus, Nutt. 

 From Illinois to Texas, Colorado, and California. 



28. BOUTELOTJA, Lag. Grama Grass. 



Very slender grasses, often geniculate at base, with short leaves less than 

 a line broad, and ligule a hairy fringe. — Watson in Proc. Am. Acad, xviii. 

 178. 



§ 1. Spikes two or more, linear or oblong, more or less falcate, the usually very 

 numerous spikelets pectinately crowded on one side of the rhachis: terminal 

 empty glume usually 3-aumed. 



* Lower glumes villous. 



1. B. hirsuta, Lag. Tufted, 8 to 20 inches high: leaves flat, lance- 

 linear, papillose hairy or glabrous : spikes 1 to 4, oblong-linear, very dense : 

 upper glume hispid with strong bristles from dark warty glands: flowering 

 glume pubescent, 3-cleft : sterile glume and its pedicel glabrous, the 3 awns 

 longer than the glumes and fertile flower. — Colorado to Mexico, and east- 

 ward to Texas and Illinois. 



2. B. oligostachya, Torr. Glabrous, 6 to 18 inches high: leaves very 

 narrow: spikes 1 to 5, oblong-linear, very dense : glumes sparingly soft-hairy: 

 pedicel of the sterile glume copiously villous-tufied at the summit ; the 3 awns 

 equalling the larger glume. — Gray, Man. 621. From the Saskatchewan to 

 Texas, Mexico, and S. California. 



* * Lower glumes glabrous. 



3. B. polystaehya, Torr. Stems 3 to 15 inches long : leaves scabrous : 

 spikes 3 to 6 or more, narrowly linear, dense, the scabrous rhachis hispid- 

 ciliate : flowering and sterile glumes 3-airned, with usually broad lobes be- 

 tween the awns. — Pacif. R. Rep. v. 366. From S. Colorado to S. California, 

 Mexico, and Texas. 



4. B. eriopoda, Torr. Spikes more loose and slender : flowering and sterile 

 glumes l-aicned, bearded at base: peduncle villous. — S. Colorado (Brandegee) 

 to New Mexico and W. Texas. 



