MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



3 mm. long, longer pilose on the mar- 

 gins and back, the apex cleft into 2 

 acute lobes, the acute palea reaching 

 the base of the cleft or a little longer. 

 O — Dry open ground, southern 

 Arizona, Nevada (Clark County), 

 and California; Chile; introduced 

 from southwestern Asia or Africa. 

 Locally dominant in Maricopa Coun- 

 ty, Ariz., and an excellent forage grass 

 in winter; apparently spreading rap- 

 idly. 



281 



Figure 377. — Schismus arabicus. 

 Spikelet, X 10; florets, X 5. 

 (Peebles 9098, Ariz.) 



55. KOELfiRIA Pers. 



Spikelets 2- to 4-flowered, compressed, the rachilla disarticulating above 

 the glumes and between the florets, prolonged beyond the perfect florets as a 

 slender bristle or bearing a reduced floret at the tip; glumes usually about 

 equal in length, unlike in shape, the first narrow, sometimes shorter, 1-nerved, 

 the second wider than the first, broadened above the middle, 3- to 5-nerved ; 

 lemmas somewhat scarious, shining, the lowermost a little longer than the 

 glume, obscurely 5-nerved, acute or short-awned, the awn, if present, borne 

 just below the apex. Slender, low or rather tall annuals or perennials, with 

 narrow blades and shining spikelike panicles. Type species, Koeleria cristata. 

 Named for G. L. Koeler. 



Koeleria cristata is a good forage grass and is a constituent of much of the 

 native pasture throughout the Western States. The plants, however, are rather 

 scattering. 



Plants perennial 1. K. cristata. 



Plants annual 2. K. phleoides. 



1. Koeleria cristata (L.) Pers. 



Junegrass. (Fig. 378.) Tufted peren- 

 nial; culms erect, puberulent below 

 the panicle, 30 to 60 cm. tall; sheaths, 

 at least the lower, pubescent; blades 

 flat or involute, glabrous or, especially 

 the lower, pubescent, 1 to 3 mm. 

 wide; panicle erect, spikelike, dense 

 (loose in anthesis), often lobed, inter- 

 rupted, or sometimes branched be- 

 low, 4 to 15 cm. long, tapering at the 

 summit; spikelets mostly 4 to 5 mm. 

 long; glumes and lemmas scaberulous, 

 3 to 4 mm. long, sometimes short- 

 awned, the rachilla joints very short. 

 % — Prairie, open woods, and sandy 

 soil, Ontario to British Columbia, 



south to Delaware, Missouri, Louisi- 

 ana, California, and Mexico; widely 

 distributed in the temperate regions 

 of the Old World. Variable; several 

 American varieties have been pro- 

 posed, but the forms are inconstant 

 and intergrading, and it is not prac- 

 ticable to distinguish definite vari- 

 eties. On the Pacific coast there is a 

 rather large loosely tufted form (K. 

 cristata var. longifolia Vasey) with 

 long narrow or involute blades and 

 somewhat open panicle. 



2. Koeleria phleoides (Vill.) Pers. 

 (Fig. 379.) Annual; culms 15 to 30 

 cm. tall, smooth throughout; sheaths 



