158 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGPJCULTURE 



Figure 213. — Eragrostis mexicana. Panicle, X 1; floret, X 10. (Smith, N. Mex.) 



28. Eragrostis mexicana (Hornem.) 



Link. Mexican lovegrass. (Fig. 

 213.) Resembling E. neomexicana, but 

 lower, erect or spreading, often sim- 

 ple; panicle erect, comparatively 

 small and few-flowered, less com- 

 pound, the branches and pedicels 

 spreading; spikelets usually not more 

 than 7-flowered. O — Open ground, 

 Texas to California; Mexico. 



29. Eragrostis arida Hitchc. (Fig. 

 214.) Annual; culms branching at 

 base, erect or more or less decumbent 

 at base, 20 to 40 cm. tall; sheaths 

 not glandular, the hairs at summit 

 in a dense line part way along the 

 collar; blades mostly flat, glabrous, 

 tapering to a fine point, mostly 4 to 

 8 cm. long, 1 to 2 mm. wide; panicle 

 mostly one-third to half the entire 

 length of the plant, open, the branches, 

 branchlets, and pedicels flexuous, 

 spreading, the lower axils sparsely 

 pilose, the branches solitary or the 

 lower in pairs; spikelets oblong to 

 linear, stramineous or drab, mostly 

 8- to 15-flowered, 5 to 10 mm. long, 

 1.5 to 2 mm. wide, somewhat com- 

 pressed, the lateral pedicels 2 to 3 

 mm. long; glumes acute, the first 

 narrow, scarcely 1 mm. long, the 

 second a little longer and wider; 

 lemmas 1.6 to 1.8 mm. long, acutish. 

 O — Dry soil, Missouri; Texas to 

 California and central Mexico. 



30. Eragrostis hirsuta (Michx.) 

 Nees. (Fig. 215.) Perennial; culms 

 erect, tufted, 50 to 120 cm. tall; 

 sheaths hirsute to glabrous, pilose at 

 the throat and especially along the 

 collar at each side; blades flat, elon- 

 gate, 5 to 10 mm. wide, becoming 



Figure 214. — Eragrostis arida. Panicle, X 1: floret, 

 X 10. (Type.) 



Figure 215. — Eragrostis hirsuta. Panicle, X 1; floret, 

 X 10. (Curtiss 3499, Fla.) 



more or less involute, tapering to a 

 fine point, scabrous on the upper 

 surface; panicle diffuse, more than 

 half the entire height of the plant, 

 pilose in the axils, branching 4 or 5 



