No. 39. 

 BOUTELOUA HIRSUTA Lagasca. 



Roots fibrous, csespitose. 



Culms erect, simple, or in var. minor geniculate and branching below. 



Leaves usually short, 1 to 4 inches long, narrow, sometimes ciliate on the mar- 

 gins, produced into a long, fine point; lower sheaths short, upper longer, and with 

 shorter blades. 



Panicle consisting of from 1 to 3 erect spikes, \ to \\ inches long. 



Spikelets about 3 lines long, hirsute, densely crowded on one side of the 

 smooth rachis; this extended in a naked point beyond the flowers. 



Empty glumes unequal, lower about 1 line in length, narrowly lanceolate, 

 acute, smooth; upper about 2-J lines long, lanceolate, acuminate, awn-pointed, with 

 a row of dark or black glands on either side of the midrib, each one emitting a 

 long hair; flowering glume 2| lines long, including the awns, nearly smooth, 

 oblong, lower half entire, upper divided into 3 lobes, each terminating in a short 

 awn. 



Palet narrower, entire, 2-nerved. 



Imperfect flower on a short, smooth pedicel, consisting of 3 awns and 3 scales, 

 awns extending a little beyond the perfect flower. 



Plate XXXIX: 1, typical plant; 2, var. minor; 3, var. major; a, empty 

 glumes; 6, perfect and imperfect flowers; c, flowering glume. 



Several forms are grouped under this species; the three principal ones being 

 here illustrated. The species has a wide range, from Mexico northward to Mon- 

 tana and east of the Mississippi in Illinois and Wisconsin. It is by no means as 

 plentiful as B. oligostachya, and is less valuable as a forage grass. 



