53 



spikes are in small clusters of three to six, terminating the stalk, and 

 also several clusters from the side branches. The si) ikes are usually 2 

 to 3 inches long, rather rigid, and contain ten to twenty flowers each. 

 At each joint there is one sessile perfect flower and one stalked one, 

 which is male only, otherwise it is nearly like the fertile one. The outer 

 glumes are about 4 lines long, the upper ones tipped with a short stiff 

 awn. The flowering glume of the perfect flower is twisted and about 

 one-half inch long. 



This species, as above stated, is abundant on the prairies of the West, 

 where it is one of the principal hay-grasses of the country, and is ex- 

 tensively cut and cured for winter use. (Plate 8.) 



Chrysopogon nutans (Wild oat-grass). 



This is a tall perennial grass, having a wide range over all the coun- 

 try east of the Ilocky Mountains. It grows rather sparsely and forms 

 a thin bed of grass. The stalks are 3 to feet high, smooth, hollow, 

 straight, and having at the top a narrow panicle of handsome straw-col- 

 ored or brownish flowers G to 12 inches long, which is gracefully droop- 

 ing at the top. The spikelets are at the ends of the slender branches of 

 the loose panicle, generally of a yellowish color. This grass, when it 

 occurs in quantity, is frequently utilized for hay-making, for which pur- 

 pose it should be cut early. (Plate 9.) 



Oryzopsis cuspidata (Indian millet.) 



This grass has a wide distribution, not only on the Sierras of Cali- 

 fornia, but northward to British America and eastward through all the 

 interior region of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, and 

 Nebraska to the Missouri Jtiver. It is a perennial, growing in dense 

 tufts, whence its common name of bunch-grass. The culms are 1 to 2 

 feet, with about three narrow convolute leaves, the upper one having a 

 long, inflated sheath which incloses the base of the panicle. In Mon- 

 tana it is one of the most esteemed hunch grasses, and thrives on soil 

 too sandy for other more valuable species. The abundant seeds are 

 very nutritious and fattening for cattle. (Plate 10.) 



Sponobolus eryptandrus. 



This species grows chiefly in sandy soil. The culms are frequently 

 bent at the lower joints, then rising erect to the height of 2 or 3 feet. 

 The leaves are mostly near the base, where the joints of the culms are 

 short; here the sheaths are short and the blades of the leaves 5 to G inches 

 long, the upper sheaths become longer and the blades shorter ; the 

 leaves are flat, but become involute in dry weather. The top of the 

 sheath is fringed with fine soft hairs. The long and narrow panicle is 

 for a longtime completely inclosed in the very long sheath of the upper 

 leaf, but finally emerges except the base and becomes more or less 

 spreading. The full panicle is from G to 12 inches long, the branches 

 mostly alternate or scattered, the lower ones about 1 inch apart and 2 



