Botany. 171 
BOTANY.! 
THE Grass FLORA OF THE NEBRASKA PLAINS.—The plains of 
Nebraska were originally covered in great part with various small 
grasses to which the common name of “ Buffalo grass” was applied. 
The true Buffalo grass (Buchloé dactyloides Engelm.) formerly 
extended eastward to or nearly to the Missouri River, but now it 
is rare east of the 100th meridian. On the curious depression near 
the city of Lincoln, to which the general name of “Salt Marsh” 
has been given (although it is in no sense a marsh), small patches 
of Buffalo grass may still be found. It is a peculiar grass, and 
when one has once noticed a patch of it, he will at once be able to 
recognize it even at a distance. It invariably grows in patches, and 
in each patch scarcely anything else grows. It does not intermingle 
with other species but holds complete possession of the soil, forming 
a dense mat which chokes out all opposition. 
Northwestward, up the Elkhorn Valley, Buffalo grass does not 
appear in any quantity until very nearly the 100th meridian is 
reached, although much of the land is still uncultivated. Going 
westward from Lincoln, small patches are to be seen in Clay county 
(98th meridian), and from this point it increases as one goes up the 
plain above the 2,000 ft. line. In the Loup valley, however, Buf- 
falo grass is not abundant, while in the Republican it is very com- 
mon, In the western portion of the State, from the Lodge Pole 
Creek on the south to the White River country on the north, it is 
still very abundant. 
ramma (Bouteloua oligostachya Torr.) is still found throughout 
the State, although it is by no means abundant in the eastern two- 
thirds. It is often called Buffalo grass, and from it a short hay is 
sometimes cut in the latter part of summer. Its relative, the 
Muskit or Mesquite grass (Bouteloua racemosa Lag.), has a still 
wider distribution, extending eastward into Iowa and Illinois, and 
westward across the plains. 
In the far-west, above the altitude of 3,500 feet above the level 
of the sea, another of the grasses of the plains proper appears. 
It resembles Buffalo grass so closely in general appearance, that it 
may well bear the name of False Buffalo grass (Munroa squarrosa 
Torr.), although it belongs to an entirely distinct genus. 
Upon the saline and alkaline soils Salt grass (Distichlis maritima 
Raf.) grows in abundance. I have seen it upon all parts of the 
great Nebraska plain. 
The grasses which are most noticeable in nearly all portions of 
this region are the Blue Stems or, as they are sometimes called, the 
Blue Joints. The great Andropogon provincialis Lam, and its 
smaller relative Andropogon scoparius Michx. oceur in company 
with Chrysopogon nutans Benth., the latter often called Bushy Blue 
1 Edited by Prof. Chas. E. Bessey, Lincoln, Neb. 
