NATIVE GRASSES OF KANSAS. 71 



loose with longer erect branches. This grass (until recently called Brizopyrum 

 spicatum ) grows in marshy (alkaline) places. It furnishes inferior pasturage and 

 poor hay, though extensively cut in the West. (Plate No. 129.) 



Dactylis, L. — A genus including bul one species, which is naturalized from Europe. Its spikelets 

 are 3 to 5-flowered, and crowded in one-sided clusters forming a dense branching panicle. The outer 

 glumes are unequal, lanceolate, acute, rigid, with hyaline margin, keeled, and 1 to 3-nerved. The 

 flowering glumes are larger, more rigid, keeled, 5-nerved, sharp-pointed and ciliate on the keel. The 

 palet is little shorter than its glume, narrow and thinner, and 2-keeled. 



130. Obchabd Gbass ; Cock's-foot Gbass: Dactylis glomerata, L. — This well- 

 known grass is about 3 feet high, with roughish culms and leaves. The panicle is 

 generally 2 or 3 inches high, its upper branches short, the lower longer and spread- 

 ing. This is one of the most widely diffused of all grasses, and its virtues are uni- 

 versally recognized. ( Plate No. 130.) 



Poa, L. — A very large genus, containing some of our most important grasses. They are all per- 

 ennial, except one species. The flowers form a narrow or spreading panicle ; the spikelets being some- 

 what compressed, usually 2 to 5-flowered. The rachis between the flowers is sometimes hairy, and the 

 flowers are generally perfect. The outer glumes are usually shorter than the flowers, membranaceous, 

 5 or rarely 7-nerved, the intermediate nerves frequently obscure; they are often scarious at the apex 

 and margins, smooth or pubescent, often with a few loose or webby hairs at the base. The palet is as 

 long as the flowering glume, and prominently 2-nerved or 2-keeled. 



131. Mountain Speab gbass; Poa andina, Nutt. — A perennial, tufted grass, with 

 short, narrow, pointed leaves. The culms are 6 to 18 inches high, wiry and naked, 

 except about two very short leaves; the blade an inch long, or almost wanting. The 

 panicle is 2 to 4 inches long, narrow, erect, and rather loose: its branches are mostly 

 in pairs, about an inch long, and flowering from the upper two-thirds, or nearly 

 throughout. The outer glumes are \h lines long, the margins scarious. The flow- 

 ering glumes are oblong, softly and finely pubescent, and below, villous; the apex is 

 scarious and tinged with purple. This grass is probably not of great agricultural 

 value. ( Plate No. 13fV) 



132. Obegon Blue-Gbass; Poa teniiifolia, Nutt. — A perennial grass, with culms 

 lb to 3 feet high, erect, and scantily clothed with a few short, narrow leaves. The 

 panicle is erect, 3 to 5 inches long, rather narrow and loose; its branches are mostly 

 in pairs, unequal, from £ to It inches long, and flowering above the middle. The 

 outer glumes are about 2 lines long, nearly as long as the flowers. The flowering 

 glumes are lanceolate, 2 to 3 lines long, the apex and margin scarious and of a 

 bronze or purplish color. It grows in abundance westward — as in Colorado, Cali- 

 fornia, Oregon, <fec. — and there at least affords considerable pasturage. Reported in 

 Kansas. 



133. Annual Speab-Gbass; Goose Gbass; Poa annua, L-. — This species is a 

 native of Europe, but extensively naturalized in this country. Its culms are low, 

 usually 3 to 10 inches high, with pale-green, tender leaves. It is an annual grass, 

 very nutritious, but not abundant. 



134. Wibe Gbass; Blue Gbass; Poa compressa, L. — This is often confused with 

 Poa pratensis, or Kentucky blue-grass, but it has flattened, decumbent and wiry 

 stems, and a shorter, narrower and more scant panicle. The hard stems are 1 foot 

 to 18 inches long. The leaves are scanty, smooth and short, and of a dark bluish- 

 green color. As to the value of this species there is much dispute, but it is by no 

 means comparable to the Kentucky blue-grass. (Plate No. 134.1 



135. Fowl Meadow-Gbass; False Red-top; Poa serotina, Ehr. — The culms of 

 this perennial species are 2 to 3 feet high, but there are no running root-stocks. The 

 leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, and 2 or 3 lines wide; the sheaths (and ligule) are long, 

 smooth and striate. The panicle is 5 to 10 (or 12) inches long, and 1 to 3 inches 



