MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



169 



Eragrostis chloromelas Steud. Boer 

 lovegrass. Erect branching perennial, 40 

 to 90 cm. tall, forming dense clumps; blades 

 elongate, subinvolute; panicle 10 to 20 cm. 

 long, loose; spikelets dark olivaceous. % 

 — Introduced from Africa, drought-resistant 

 and promising in erosion control in the 

 Southwest. 



15. CATABROSA Beauv. 



Spikelets mostly 2-flowered, the 

 florets rather distant, the rachilla dis- 

 articulating above the glumes and be- 

 tween the florets; glumes unequal, 

 shorter than the lower floret, flat, 

 nerveless, irregularly toothed at the 

 broad truncate apex; lemmas broad, 

 prominently 3-nerved, the nerves 

 parallel, the broad apex scarious; 

 palea about as long as the lemma, 

 broad, scarious at apex. Aquatic per- 

 ennials, with creeping bases, flat soft 

 blades, and open panicles. Type spe- 

 cies, Catabrosa aquatica. Name from 

 Greek katabrosis, an eating up or de- 

 vouring, referring to the toothed or 

 erose glumes. 



1. Catabrosa aquatica (L.) Beauv. 

 Brookgrass (Fig. 232.) Glabrous 

 throughout; culms 10 to 40 cm. long; 



Figure 232.— Catabrosa aquatica. Plant, X Vi ; spikelet and floret, X 5. (Williams and Fernald, Quebec.) 



