508 



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





tufted perennial, with stiff, slender, 

 divergent spikes rather remote along 

 a common axis. Type species, Schedon- 

 nardustexanus Steud. (S. paniculatus). 

 Name from Greek schedon, near, and 

 Nardus, a genus of grasses (Steudel 

 places Schedonnardus next to Nardus 

 in his classification). 



1. Schedonnardus paniculatus 

 (Nutt.) Trel. Tumblegrass. (Fig. 

 739.) Culms 20 to 40 cm. tall; leaves 

 crowded at the base; blades flat, 

 mostly 2 to 5 cm. long, about 1 mm. 

 wide, wavy; spikes 2 to 10 cm. long; 

 spikelets narrow, acuminate, about 4 

 mm. long. The axis of the inflores- 

 cence elongates after flowering, be- 

 coming 30 to 60 cm. long, curved in 

 a loose spiral; the whole breaks away 

 at maturity and rolls before the 

 wind as a tumbleweed. % — Prai- 

 ries and plains, Illinois to Saskat- 

 chewan and Montana, south to 

 Louisiana and Arizona; Argentina. 

 This species forms an inconsiderable 

 part of the forage on the Great Plains. 



106. BECKMANNIA Host 



Sloughgeass 



Spikelets 1- or 2-flowered, laterally 

 compressed, sub circular, nearly ses- 

 sile and closely imbricate, in 2 rows 

 along one side of a slender contin- 

 uous rachis, disarticulating below the 



glumes, falling entire; glumes equ a ^ 

 inflated, obovate, 3-nerved, rounded 

 above but the apex apiculate; lemma 

 narrow, 5-nerved, acuminate, about 

 as long as the glumes; palea nearly 

 as long as the lemma. Erect, rather 

 stout annuals with flat blades and 

 numerous short appressed or as- 

 cending spikes in a narrow more or 

 less interrupted panicle. Type species, 

 Beckmannia erucaeformis (L.) Host, 

 to which our species was formerly 

 referred. Named for Johann Beck- 

 mann. 



1. Beckmannia syzigachne (Steud.) 

 Fernald. American sloughgrass. 

 (Fig. 740.) Light green; culms 30 to 

 100 cm. tall; panicle 10 to 25 cm. 

 long, the erect branches 1 to 5 

 cm. long; spikes crowded, 1 to 2 cm. 

 long; spikelets 1-flowered, 3 mm. long; 

 glumes transversely wrinkled and 

 with a deep keel, the acuminate apex 

 of the lemma protruding. — 

 Marshes and ditches, Manitoba to 

 Alaska; New York and Ohio to the 

 Pacific coast, south to Kansas and 

 New Mexico; Asia. The European B. 

 erucaeformis (L.) Host has 2-flowered 

 spikelets. Our species is palatable to 

 stock, sometimes sufficiently abun- 

 dant locally to be an important forage 

 grass, and is frequently cut for 

 hay. 



107. SPARTlNA Schreb. Cordgrass 



Spikelets 1-flowered, much flattened lateral^, sessile and usually closely 

 imbricate on one side of a continuous rachis, disarticulating below the glumes, 

 the rachilla not produced bej r ond the floret; glumes keeled, 1-nerved, or the 

 second with a second nerve on one side, acute or short-awned, the first shorter, 

 the second often exceeding the lemma; lemma firm, keeled, the lateral nerves 

 obscure, narrowed to a rather obtuse point; palea 2-nerved, keeled and 

 flattened, the keel between or at one side of the nerves. Erect, often stout tall 

 perennials, with usually extensively creeping, firm, scaly rhizomes (wanting 

 in Spartina spartinae, S. baker i, and sometimes in S. caespitosa), long tough 

 blades, and 2 to many appressed or sometimes spreading spikes racemose on 

 the main axis, the slender tips of the rachises naked, often prolonged. Type 

 species, Spartina schreberi Gmel. Name from Greek spartine, a cord made 

 from spartes (Spartium junceum) , probably applied to Spartina because of the 

 tough leaves. 



The species with rhizomes often form extensive colonies to the exclusion 

 of other plants. The} T are important soil binders and soil builders in coastal 

 and interior marshes. A European species, S. townsendi H. and J. Groves, has 



