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



lets 1 to 1.8 mm long; glumes obtuse, about equal, about half as long 

 as the spikelet or a little more, sparsely sometimes obscurely pilose; 

 lemmas obtuse, minutely pubescent on midnerve and margins, o 

 (S. confusus Vasey; S. minutissimus Hitchc.) — Sandy or rocky open 

 ground, Montana to eastern Washington, south to Nebraska, Texas, 



Figure 813.— Sporobolus ramulosus. Plant, 

 X 1; glumes and floret, X 10. (Hitchcock 

 7661, Mex.) 



Figure 814. — Sporobolus microspermus. Plant, 

 X 1; spikelet and 2 views of floret, X 10. 

 (Hitchcock 3788, N.Mex.) 



and New Mexico, west to southern California, and south to Costa 

 Rica (fig. 815). 



3. Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth. (Fig. 816.) Perennial, with 

 numerous branching widely creeping slender rhizomes (yellowish in 

 drying); culms erect, 10 to 40 cm tall; sheaths overlapping, more or 

 less pilose at the throat; blades flat or becoming involute especially 

 toward the fine point, conspicuously distichous, mostly less than 5 cm 

 long or on the innovations longer; panicle pale, contracted or spike- 

 like, 2 to 8 cm long, 5 to 10 mm thick; spikelets 2 to 2.5 mm long; 

 glumes and lemma about equal. % — Sandy or muddy seashores and 

 saline marshes, forming extensive colonies, with relatively few flower- 



