MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 215 



and branchlets stiffly spreading, the 

 bases of the principal ones surrounded 

 by glandular hairy pulvini; spikelets 

 long-pediceled, divergent, 7 to 10 mm. 

 long, pale or purple-tinged. % — 

 Dry pine and oakwoods, New Jersey, 

 Virginia, Missouri, and Oklahoma, 

 south to Florida and Texas. 



13. Tridens texanus (S. Wats.) 

 Nash. (Fig. 287.) Culms erect, densely 

 tufted, 20 to 40 cm. tall; sheaths pu- 

 bescent at throat and on the collar; 

 blades flat or subinvolute, 1 to 4 mm. 

 wide, tapering to a slender point ; pan- 

 icle open, 5 to 15 cm. long, nodding, 

 the branches rather distant, flexuous, 

 drooping, few-flowered; spikelets ob- 

 long, 6- to 10-flowered, 6 to 10 mm. 

 long, rather turgid, pink or purplish, 

 more or less nodding on short pedicels; 

 glumes broad, acute to obtuse; lem- 

 mas 4 to 5 mm. long, obtuse, minutely 

 lobed, the margins densely pilose near 

 the base, the keel glabrous or sparsely 



pilose below, the 3 nerves Short- Figure 285.— Tridens oklahomensis. Panicle, X 1; 



floret, X 5. (Wade 77, Okla.) 



Figure 286. — Tridens chapmani. Panicle, X 1; floret, X 10. (Harper 1714, Ga.) 



excurrent; palea about as long as the 

 lemma, strongly bowed out at base. 

 % — Plains and dry slopes, central 

 and southern Texas, and northern 

 Mexico. 



14. Tridens strictus (Nutt.) Nash. 

 (Fig. 288.) Culms rather stout, erect, 

 1 to 1.5 m. tall; blades elongate, flat 

 or loosely involute, 3 to 8 mm. wide; 

 panicle dense, spikelike, more or less 



interrupted below, narrowed above, 

 10 to 30 cm. long; spikelets short- 

 pediceled, 4- to 6-flowered, about 5 

 mm. long, the florets closely imbri- 

 cate ; glumes as long as the spikelet, or 

 nearly so, the apex spreading, the keel 

 glandular viscid toward maturity; 

 lemmas about 3 mm. long, obtuse, the 

 keel and margins pilose on the lower 

 half to two-thirds, the midnerve ex- 



