MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



569 



brous, mostly 5 to 10 mm wide; racemes several to numerous, approxi- 

 mate, ascending to slightly spreading, 2 to 4 cm long, the axis and 

 rachis softly pubescent, the pedicels short-pilose; spikelets 4 to 5 mm 

 long, rather sparsely appressed-pubescent, acuminate, or the glume 



sometimes tapering into 



an awn-point as much as 



1 mm long; sterile lemma 



empty; fruit about 3 mm 



long, apiculate. O — 



Open ground, often a 



weed in fields, western 



Texas to southern Cali- 

 fornia, south through the 

 highlands of Mexico (fig. 1187). (This species has been referred to 

 E. acuminata (Presl) Kunth, an unidentified species of Mexico.) 



Eriochloa gracilis var. minor (Vasey) Hitchc. Mostly smaller, 

 with more crowded, less acuminate spikelets, the pedicels with a few 

 long hairs at the summit, fertile lemma about as long as the glume 

 and sterile lemma (excluding the short points), obtuse or slightly 



Figure 1187.— Distribution of 

 Eriochloa gracilis. 



Figure 1188.— Distribution of 

 Eriochloa contracta. 



apiculate. o 





Open ground, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



6. Erio loa contracta Hitchc. Prairie cupgrass. (Fig. 1186, 

 B.) Annual; culms 

 erect or sometimes 

 decumbent at base, 

 pubescent at least 

 about the nodes, 30 

 to 70 cm tall; blades 

 pubescent, usually 

 not more than 5 mm 

 wide; panicle usual- 

 ly less than 15 cm 

 long, contracted, 

 cylindric, the ra- 

 cemes appressed, 

 closely overlapping, 

 1 to 2 cm long, the 

 axis and rachises 

 villous; spikelets 3.5 

 to 4 mm long, exclud- 

 ing the awn-tip, ap- 

 pressed -villous; 

 glume awn-tipped ; 

 sterile lemma slightly FlGURE 1190 

 shorter, acuminate, 

 empty; fruit 2 to 2.5 



mm long, with an awn nearly 1 mm long, o — Open ground, 

 ditches, low fields, and wet places, Kansas to Louisiana and New 

 Mexico; introduced in Missouri and Virginia (fig. 1188). Differing 

 from E. gracilis in the pubescent foliage, subcylindric panicle, and the 

 awned fruit. 



7. Eriochloa punctata (L.) Desv. (Fig. 1189.) Perennial; culms 

 in tufts, usually 50 to 100 cm tall; blades flat, mostly 5 to 10 mm wide, 



Figure 1189.— Eriochloa 

 punctata. Panicle, X 1; 

 floret, X 10. (Hitchcock 

 9661, Jamaica.) 



Eriochloa michauxii. Plant, 

 X 1; floret, X 10. (Amer. Gr. Nat. Herb. 

 297, Fla.) 



