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



Section 2. Euchl6ris Endl. 

 Lemmas tawny to grayish or fuscous, 

 awned; glumes acute to acumi- 

 nate. Mostly perennial. 

 5. Chloris gayana Kunth. Rhodes 

 grass. (Fig. 760.) Culms 1 to 1.5 

 m. tall with long, stout, leafy stolons, 

 the internodes compressed, tough 

 and wiry; blades 3 to 5 mm. wide, 

 tapering to a fine point; spikes 

 several to numerous, erect or as- 

 cending, 5 to 10 cm. long; spikelets 

 crowded, pale-tawny; lemma 3 mm. 

 long, hispid on the margin near the 

 summit, more or less hispidulous be- 

 low, the awn 1 to 5 mm. long; rudi- 

 ment commonly of 2 florets, the lower 

 occasionally fertile, rather narrow, 

 the awn usually somewhat shorter 

 than that of the fertile lemma, the 

 upper minute, broad, truncate. % 

 — Cultivated for forage in warmer 

 regions, escaped into fields and waste 

 places, North Carolina and from 

 Florida to southern California and 

 in tropical America. Introduced from 

 Africa. A promising meadow grass 

 in irrigated regions. 



6. Chloris chloridea (Presl) Hitchc. 

 (Fig. 761.) Culms slender, 60 to 100 

 cm. tall; blades flat, 3 to 7 mm. wide, 

 long-acuminate; spikes slender, few 

 to several, mostly 8 to 15 cm. long, 

 approximate on an axis 2 to 10 cm. 

 long; spikelets appressed, not crowd- 

 ed; lemma narrow, glabrous, some- 

 what scaberulous toward the tip, 

 about 6 mm. long, the awn 10 to 12 

 mm. long; rudiment very narrow, 

 awned. % (C. clandestina Scribn. 

 and Merr.) — Open ground, Texas 

 (Brownsville), Arizona, Mexico, and 

 Honduras. Large cleistogamous spike- 

 lets are borne on slender underground 

 branches, rather rare in herbarium 

 specimens, either infrequent or readi- 

 ly broken off. 



7. Chloris andropogonoides Fourn. 

 (Fig. 762.) Culms densely tufted, 20 

 to 40 cm. tall, the leaves mostly 

 basal; blades about 1 mm. wide as 

 folded; spikes slender, few to several, 

 5 to 10 cm. long, whorled, divergent, 

 floriferous from base; spikelets scarce- 

 ly overlapping; lemma minutely pu- 

 bescent on midnerve and margin or 



Figure 761. — Chloris chloridea. Terminal and subterranean inflorescences, X 1; florets, X 5. (Silveus 379, 



Tex.) 



