MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



177 



America. Occasional plants produce 

 runners above ground as well as 

 below. Such specimens have been 

 segregated as D. spicata var. stolonif- 

 era Beetle. Distichlis spicata var. 

 nana Beetle. Culms slender from 

 slender rhizomes; blades 1 to 8 cm. 

 long, subinvolute, slender; panicles of 

 2 to 5 spikelets, the spikelets slightly 

 narrower than in the species; keels 

 of the palea densely short-ciliate. 

 % — Alkaline boggy or sandy 

 soil, Stanislaus and Kern Counties, 

 Calif. Insufficiently known. 



2. Distichlis stricta (Torr.) Rydb. 

 Desert saltgrass. (Fig. 239.) Re- 

 sembling D. spicata; panicles less con- 

 gested, the individual spikelets easily 

 distinguished ; staminate panicles stra- 

 mineous, the spikelets 8- to 15- 

 flowered; pistillate spikelets greenish 

 leaden, mostly 7- or 9-flowered, 

 broader; lemmas firm, the palea a 

 little shorter, much broader below, 

 the keels with wide serrulate erose 

 or lacerate wings. % (D. dentata 

 Rydb., the pistillate plant.) — Al- 

 kaline soil of the interior, Saskat- 

 chewan to eastern Washington, south 

 to Texas and California; Mexico. 

 This and D. spicata appear to be 

 distinct for the most part, but the 

 staminate plants are sometimes diffi- 

 cult to distinguish. 10 



3. Distichlis texana (Vasey) Scribn. 

 (Fig. 240.) Culms erect from a de- 

 cumbent base, 30 to 60 cm. tall, 

 producing extensively creeping rhi- 

 zomes and long stout stolons; blades 

 flat, firm, glabrous beneath, scabrous 

 on the upper surface, mostly 20 to 

 40 cm. long, 2 to 6 mm. wide; 

 panicle narrow, pale, 10 to 25 cm. 

 long, somewhat interrupted, the 

 branches appressed; spikelets some- 

 what compressed, 4- to 8-flowered, 

 1 to 1.5 cm. long; glumes 5 and 7 

 mm. long, acute; lemmas of pistillate 

 spikelets closely imbricate and ap- 

 pressed, about 8 mm. long with 3 



strong nerves, the intermediate nerves 

 obscure, acute, the margins broad, 

 hyaline; palea of pistillate spikelets 

 shorter than the lemma, strongly 

 bowed out below, closely convolute 

 around the pistil, the keels with 

 narrow erose or toothed wings; lem- 

 mas of staminate spikelets more 

 spreading, about 6 mm. long, 3- 

 nerved; palea about as long as the 



10 REEDER, J. R. STATUS OP DISTICHLIS DENTATA. 



Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 70: 53-57. 1943. 



Figure 238. — Distichlis spicata. Plant, X 1; floret, 

 X 5. (Hitchcock 2826, Oreg.) 



lemma, not bowed out, not con- 

 volute, the keels minutely scabrous, 

 not winged; anthers 3 mm. long. 91 

 — Sand flats, Presidio and Brewster 

 Counties, Tex., and northern Mexico. 



