MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



765 



spathes; rachis very slender, flexuous, 

 long-villous; sessile spikelet about 3 

 mm. long, the delicate straight awn 

 1 to 2 cm. long; pedicel long-villous, 

 its spikelet obsolete or nearly so. % 

 — Open ground, old fields, open 

 woods, sterile hills, and sandy soil, 

 Massachusetts, New York, Michigan, 

 and Kansas, south to Florida and 

 Texas; California; Mexico, Central 

 America, West Indies. Andropogon 

 virginicus var. hirsutior (Hack.) 

 Hitchc. Flowering branches more nu- 

 merous than in the species, the in- 

 florescence often rather dense, re- 

 sembling that of A. glomeratus, but 

 the spathes mostly larger and the 

 peduncles usually shorter. % — 

 Moist meadows and old fields, Flor- 

 ida to Texas; Tennessee; Oklahoma; 

 Mexico. Intergrades with A. vir- 

 ginicus and appears to be intermedi- 

 ate between that and A. glomeratus. 

 Andropogon virginicus var. glatj- 

 copsis (Ell.) Hitchc. Resembling the 

 species, but foliage, especially the 

 lower sheaths, very glaucous; inflor- 

 escence sometimes as dense as in var. 

 hirsutior, the spathes dull purple. % 

 (A. glaucopsis Nash.) — Moist sandy 

 soil and low pine barrens, Virginia 

 to Florida and Mississippi. 



27. Andropogon glomeratus (Walt. ) 

 B. S. P. Bushy beardgrass. (Fig. 

 1166.) Culms erect, 50 to 150 cm. 

 tall, compressed, with broad keeled 

 overlapping lower sheaths, the flat 

 tufts often forming dense, usually 

 glaucous clumps, the culms from 

 freely to bushy-branching toward the 

 summit; sheaths occasionally villous; 

 blades elongate, 3 to 8 mm. wide; 

 inflorescence dense, feathery, from 

 flabellate to oblong, the paired ra- 

 cemes 1 to 3 cm. long, about equaling 

 the slightly dilated spathes, the en- 

 closed peduncle and ultimate branch- 

 lets long-villous, the peduncle at 

 least 5 mm. long, often longer; rachis 

 very slender, flexuous, long-villous; 

 sessile spikelets 3 to 4 mm. long, the 

 awn straight, 1 to 1.5 cm. long; 

 sterile spikelet reduced to a subulate 



Figure 1166. — Andropogon glomeratus, branchlet of 

 inflorescence, X 1. (Hitchcock 437, Fla.) 



glume or wanting, the pedicel slender, 

 long-villous. % — Low moist 

 ground, marshes, and swamps, Massa- 

 chusetts to Florida, west to Ken- 



Figuee 1167. — Andropogon elliottii, X 1. (Commons 

 115, Del.) 



