MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



153 



Figure 203. — Eragrostis pectinacea. Panicle, X 1; 

 floret, X 10. (V. H. Chase 84, 111.) 



lets, the main panicle branches thus 

 more densely flowered. — A 

 common weed in fields and open 

 ground, Wyoming, Idaho, Oklahoma, 

 and Texas to Nevada and southern 

 California; introduced occasionally in 

 the Eastern States; Mexico. In some 

 specimens the spikelets are ascending 

 rather than appressed, thus making 

 the panicle more open. 



20. Eragrostis tephrosanthos 

 Schult. (Fig. 205.) Annual, rather 

 soft and lax ; culms branching at base, 

 erect to decumbent-spreading, 5 to 20 

 cm. tall, sometimes taller; blades flat, 

 usually 5 to 10 cm. long, 1 to 2 mm. 

 wide; panicle open, mostly 4 to 10 

 cm. long, about half as wide, the 

 branches ascending or spreading, 

 naked below, the spikelets appressed 

 or ascending along the upper part, the 

 lower axils pilose; spikelets 6- to 12- 

 flowered, 4 to 7 mm. long, about 1.5 

 mm. wide; glumes about 1 and 1.3 

 mm. long; lemmas 1.5 to 2 mm. long, 

 the lateral nerves distinct. O — 



Figure 204. — Eragrostis diffusa. Panicle, X 1; floret, X 10. (Reverchon 1614, Tex.) 



posed, the nerves evident; grain 0.8 

 mm. long. O (E. caroliniana 

 (Spreng.) Scribn.; E. purshii Schrad.) 

 — Fields, waste places, open ground, 

 moist places, Maine to Washington, 

 south to Florida and Arizona, rare in 

 the Western States. The name E. 

 pectinacea has been misapplied to E. 

 spectabilis. 



19. Eragrostis diffusa Buckl. (Fig. 

 204.) More robust than E. pectinacea, 

 usually 30 to 50 cm. tall, sometimes Open ground, fields, and waste places, 

 taller; panicle larger, the primary Florida to southern Texas and south 

 branches bearing appressed secondary through the lowland Tropics to 

 branchlets with few to several spike- Brazil. 



Figure 205. — Eragrostis tephrosanthos. Panicle, X 1; 

 floret, X 10. (Curtiss 5930, Fla.) 



