160 



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



Figure 218.— Eragrostis erosa. Panicle, X 1 (Skehan 58, N. Mex.); floret, X 10. (Type.) 



hills, western Texas to New Mexico 

 and northern Mexico. 



34. Eragrostis palmeri S. Wats. 



(Fig. 219.) Perennial; culms tufted, 

 erect, about 70 cm. tall; blades in- 

 volute, elongate, erect; panicle open, 

 oblong, 15 to 20 cm. long, 5 to 7 

 cm. wide, glabrous in the axils; 

 spikelets 5 to 7 mm. long, mostly 7- 

 to 9-flowered, brownish; first glume 

 about 1 mm. long; second glume 1.5 

 to 2 mm. long; lemmas rounded on 

 the back, bronze-tipped, about 2 mm. 

 long. % — Alkaline banks, Texas; 

 Mexico (Juarez, Coahuila). Differs 

 from E. erosa in the oblong panicle 

 and smaller spikelets and lemmas. 



35. Eragrostis intermedia Hitchc. 

 Plains lovegrass. (Fig. 220.) Per- 

 ennial; culms erect, tufted, mostly 

 40 to 80 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous or 

 the lowermost sparsely pilose, con- 

 spicuously pilose at the throat, the 

 hairs extending in a line across the 

 collar; blades flat to subinvolute, 

 pilose on the upper surface near the 

 base, otherwise glabrous or with a 

 few scattered hairs, 10 to 25 cm. 

 long, 1 to 3 mm. wide; panicle erect, 

 open, often diffuse, 15 to 35 cm. 



Figure 219. — Eragrostis palmeri. Panicle, X 1; floret, 

 X 10. (Silveus 851, Tex.) 



long, at maturity mostly about three- 

 fourths as wide, the axils pilose, 

 sometimes sparsely so or rarely gla- 

 brous, the branches slender but rather 

 stiff, the lower in pairs or verticils, 

 all spreading, often horizontal; spike- 

 lets usually 3- to 8-flowered, 3 to 10 

 mm. long, about 1.5 mm. wide, 

 grayish or brownish green, the pedicels 

 somewhat flexuous, 1 to 3 times as 



