MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



145 



fine point; panicle condensed, more or less interrupted or with stiff 

 ascending rather densely flowered branches, 

 rarely somewhat open, 5 to 15 cm long, some- 

 times as much as 40 cm long, rarely sparsely 

 pilose in the axils; spikelets usually red- 

 brown, strongly compressed, subsessile, linear, 

 mostly 10- to 40-flowered, 8 to 15 mm long; 

 glumes acute, 1.5 and 2 mm long; lemmas 

 closely imbricate, 3 mm long, somewhat 



abruptly narrowed to 



an acute apex, the 



tip slightly spreading; 



palea bowed out below, 



the keels prominent ; 



anthers 0.2 to 0.3 mm 



Figure 275.— Distribution of 

 Eragrostis secundiflora. 



long, gray ; grain 1 mm 



Figure 274.— Eragrostis secundU 



flora. Panicle, X 1; floret, X 10. 



(Reverchon 3501A, Tex.) 



long. 91 — Sandy 

 soil, northern Florida 

 to Kansas and New Mexico, south to Oaxaca; 

 also California (San Diego) (fig. 275). 



5. Eragrostis beyrichii J. G. Smith. 

 (Fig. 276.) Kesembling E. secundiflora and 

 possibly only a variety of that species; 

 differing in the softer foliage and panicle, 

 the plant on the average smaller, the panicle 

 pale or slightly pinkish; lemmas 3.5 to 4 mm 



long (the lower shorter), 



less firm, tapering to an acuminate apex; palea 



broader and longer; anthers 0.4 



to 0.5 mm long, yellowish. % 



— Sandy soil, Texas and Okla- 

 homa (Wichita Mountains). 

 6. Eragrostis spicata Vasey. 



(Fig. 277.) Perennial; culms 



tufted, erect, about 1 m tall; 



blades flat, elongate, more or 



less involute in drying, tapering 



to a slender point; panicle 



pale, slender, dense, spikelike, 



10 to 30 cm long, 3 to 4 mm 



thick; spikelets strongly com- 

 pressed, 2- or 3-flowered, 2 mm 



long, the somewhat pubescent 



pedicels less than 1 mm long; 



glumes rather broad, obtuse, un- 

 equal, the second about 1 mm 



long; lemmas about 2 mm long, 



all rising to about the same 



height, the lateral pair of nerves 



Figure 27 §.— Eragrostis £ • °, ' . -,-. r i T j 



beyrkhu. Panicle, x i; iamt. % — Dry ground, Laredo 



floret, x 10. (Tracy 7924, ,nnH-"Rrnwrmvillp TW • Tin in Onli- Figure 277.— Eragrostis 

 Tex.) diiupio\\nsvme, iex., r>aja^an tpkataM Panicle, x i; 



lornia; Paraguay, Argentina. spikeiet, x io. (Swaiien 



7. Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) R. Br. (Fig. 278.) An- 10S,i - Tex) 

 nual; culms branching, erect to spreading, slender, wiry, 15 to 30 cm tall ; 



