MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



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acuminate; spikes mostly 3 to 6, usually 5 to 7 cm long, digitate or 

 nearly so, erect to spreading, somewhat flexuous; spikelets crowded, 

 about 3 nun long; lemma densely long- villous on the keel and the 

 middle of the margin, the awn shorter than the body; rudiment 

 triangular-cuneate, about 2 mm wide. % (C. 

 nashii Heller.) — Open grassland, southern 

 Texas and Mexico. 



12. Chloris verticillata Nutt. Windmill 

 grass. (Fig. 1074.) Culms tufted, 10 to 40 

 cm tall, erect or decumbent at base, sometimes 

 rooting at the lower nodes; leaves crowded at 

 base, 2 to 4 sometimes aggregate at lower nodes ; 

 sheaths compressed, blades 1 to 3 mm wide, 

 obtuse; spikes slender, 7 to 10 or even 15 cm long, in 1 to 3 whorls, 

 finally widely spreading; spikelets about 3 mm long; fertile lemma 

 pubescent on the nerves, the awn mostly 5 to 8 mm long; rudiment 

 cuneate-oblong, rather turgid, about 0.7 mm wide as folded, truncate, 



Figure 1071.— Distribution of 

 Chloris virgata. 



Figube 1072.— Chloris polydadyla. Panicle, X 1; florets, X 5. 

 (Simpson, Fla.) 



Figure 1073.— Chloris ciliata. 

 Panicle. X 1: florets, X 5. 

 (Tracv 8S86, Tex.) 



the awn about 5 mm long. 91 — Plains, Missouri to Colorado, 

 south to Louisiana and New Mexico ; introduced in Maryland, Illinois, 

 Indiana, and California (Berkeley) (fig. 1075). The inflorescence at 

 maturity breaks awav and rolls before the wind as a tumbleweed. 



