No. 43. 

 BOUTELOUA RACEMOSA Lagasca. 



Culms in close tufts from a strongly rooted rootstock 2 to 3 feet high, un- 

 branched. 



Leaves with blades 4 to 12 inches long, 2 lines wide, long-pointed, scabrous; 

 sheath loose, sparsely pubescent; ligule short. 



Inflorescence racemose, (i to 9 inches long, composed of 20 to 40 alternate, 

 sometimes one-sided, short-pedicelled or nearly sessile, short spikes, these spread- 

 ing or recurved, sometimes approximate, sometimes rather distant; common rachis 

 angular, scabrous. 



Spikes i to •& inch long, variable in thickness and fullness, usually of about 5 

 spikelets, sometimes reduced to 2 or 3. 



Spikelets 2 to 3 lines long without the awns, each 2-flowered. 



Empty glumes unequal; lowest one-third shorter than the upper, narrow, awn- 

 pointed; upper 2 lines long or more, ovate-lanceolate, acute; flowering glume about 

 2 lines long, oblong, smooth or somewhat pubescent on the margins, 3-nerved near 

 the apex, with 3 short arms. 



Palet as long as its glume, 2-nerved, 2-toothed at apex. Imperfect flower 

 varying in development from a few rudimentary awns to a nearly full-formed 

 flower, or in var. aristosa having a long-awned flowering glume and rudimentary 

 scales. 



Plate XLIII: above, spike of about 3 spikelets; below, flower showing the 

 empty glumes, perfect and imperfect flowers. 



This is perhaps more widely diffused than any other species, ranging from 

 Mexico to British America and east of the Mississippi in Illinois, Ohio, and several 

 localities in eastern New York. 



