Thk (ii{Assi;s oi i i:n nksskj:. 89 



The other species {G. brevifolius Trin.) may occur within the 

 State. It is more slender, with shorter leaves and the spikes flow- 

 er- heaririii^ only above the middle, not to the base as in G. race- 



38. BOUTELOUA \a\^. Varied. Cienc. (1S05), 14 (. 



Spikelets one- to two-flowered, numerous (rarely two or three 

 or only one), crowded and sessile in two rows alon^ one side 

 of a continuous flattened rachis, which often projects beyond 

 the spikelets; rachilla articulated above the emj)ty glumes, the 

 continuation beyond the hermaphrodite lower floret usually bear- 

 ing a few rudimentary glumes and three awns (rarely a staminate 

 flower). Empty glumes two, unequal, the lower smaller, keeled. 

 Flowering glume broader, three-nerved, three- to five-toothed, or 

 cleft, three of the divisions usually mucronate or awn-pointed. 

 Palea two-nerved and two toothed. Grain enclosed within the 

 glume, but free. Usually low annuals or perennials, with narrow and 

 flat or convolute leaves, the unilateral spikes few or many (rarely 

 solitary) and nearly sessile along a common terminal peduncle. 



Species about thirty, all American, most abundant in the dry 

 regions of the southwestern States and Mexico, where they are 

 commonly known as Grama (or Mesquit). 



1. Bouteloua oligostachya Torr. Blue Grama. 



Plate XXX. Figure 118. 



A slender perennial six to twenty inches high, with one to five 

 remote, pectinately many-flowered, usually spreading spikes, one 

 to two inches long. Spikelets about three lines long; flowering 

 glumes hairy on the back; palea as long as its glume, with tufted 

 long hairs on each side at the base; pedicel of the rudimentary 

 floret hairy at the tip and bearing several rudimentary glumes 

 and three very short awns. 



This grass forms a dense turf, which affords most excellent 

 grazing for sheep and cattle. In some parts of the West, where it 

 is very common, it is called Buffalo-grass, but it is quite distinct 

 from the grass properly so called. It has been only sparingly in- 

 troduced into the State, but its cultivation for grazing purposes 

 on dry sandy loam soil is recommended. 



2. Bouteloua curtipendula T- rr. Tall Grama. 



Plate XXX. Figure 119. 



A densely-tufted perennial grass, ore to three feet high, with 

 numerous, twenty to sixty, usually spreading or reflexed spikes 

 scattered along the common axis, forming a long, somewhat one- 

 sided raceme eight to fifteen inches long. Spikes one-half inch or 

 less long, nearly sessile, each with three to ten spikelets; flower- 

 ing glumes with three short awn-pointed teeth: the continuation 

 of the rachilla a simple bristle, or bearing at its apex three very 

 short awns and one to two minute scales. 



