57 



Eragrostis major. 



This is a foreign grass which lias become extensively naturalized, not 

 only in the older States, but in many places in the western and southern 

 Territories. It is found in waste and cultivated grounds and on road- 

 sides, growing in thick tufts, which spread out over the ground by means 

 of the geniculate and decumbent culms. The culms are from 1 to 2 feet 

 long, the lower joints bent and giving rise to long branches. The grass 

 is said to have a disagreeable odor when fresh. It produces an abun- 

 dance of foliage, and is apparently an annual, reaching maturity late in 

 the season. We are not aware that its agricultural value has been 

 tested. (Plate 23.) 



Distichlis maritima (Salt- grass, alkaline-grass). 



This is described in most botanical works as Brizopyrum spicatum, but 

 recently the name given by Bafinesque has been accepted and restored 

 to it by Mr. Bentham. It is a perennial grass, growing in marshes near 

 the sea-coast on both sides of the continent, and also abundantly in 

 alkaline soil throughout the arid districts of the Eocky Mountains. It 

 has strong creepiug root-stocks, covered with imbricated leaf-sheaths, 

 sending up culms from G to 18 inches high, which are clothed nearly to 

 the top with the numerous, sometimes crowded, two-ranked leaves. The 

 leaves are generally rigid and involute, sharp-pointed, varying greatly 

 in length on different specimens. The plants are dioecious, some being 

 entirely male and some female. The panicle is generally short and 

 spike-like, sometimes, especially in the males, rather loose, with longer, 

 erect branches, and sometimes reduced to a few spikelets. 



Although this can not be considered a first-class grass for agricult- 

 ural purposes, it is freely cut with other marsh grasses, and on the al- 

 kaline plains of the Eocky Mountains it affords an inferior pasturage. 

 (Plate 21.) 



Poa tenuifolia (Blue-grass of the plains and mountains). 



This species in several varieties is common in California, Oregon, 

 Montana, etc., and is one of the numerous bunch-grasses referred to in 

 the accounts of the wild pasturage of that country. The foliage of 

 some forms is scanty, but of others the radical leaves are long and 

 abundant. It is stated that the Indians gather the seeds of this grass 

 for food. It is probable that it, by careful cultivation, may be made as 

 valuable in agriculture for the region where it grows as the Poa pratensis 

 is in the Eastern States. (Plate 25.) 



Festuca scabrclla (Bunch-grass). 



A perennial grass growing in strong clumps or bunches, and hence 

 called "bunch-grass." It is a native of the Eocky Mountain region, 

 from Colorado westward to California and Oregon. The culms are usu- 

 ally 2 to 3 feet high, erect and smooth j the radical leaves are numer- 

 ous, about half as long as the culm, generally rigid, involute, and sea- 



