110 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



3. Calamagrostis inexpansa A. Gray, Gram, and Cyp. l:No.20. 1834. 

 White Mountains (Apache County), Willow Spring (Apache or 

 Coconino County), wet meadows above 5,000 feet, July to September. 

 Greenland to Alaska, south to Massachusetts, Indiana, Nebraska, 

 New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 



33. CALAMOVILFA. Sandreed 



Coarse, tall perennial with stout, creeping rhizomes, long, attenuate 

 leaf blades, and large, open panicles; glumes firm, 1 -nerved, the first 

 glume half as long, the second one as long as the floret; lemma char- 

 taceous, acute, awnless, the callus densely bearded with hairs nearly 

 half as long as the lemma. 



1. Calamovilfa gigantea (Nutt.) Scribn. and Merr., U. S. Dept. Agr., 

 Div. Agrost. Cir. 35: 2. 1901. 

 Calamagrostis gigantea Nutt., Amer. Phil. Soc. Trans., n. s., 5: 

 143. 1837. 



Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties, sand hills, July to Octo- 

 ber. Kansas and Utah to Texas and Arizona. 



This grass is a valuable sand binder. The reedlike stems are used 

 by the Hopi Indians for various purposes. 



34. AGROSTIS. Bentgrass 



Slender perennials with flat or involute leaf blades and dense or 

 very open panicles of small spikelets; glumes equal, acute, longer 

 than the floret; lemma much thinner than the glumes, awnless; 

 palea minute or sometimes nearly as long as the lemma. 



Most of the species are important forage grasses. Redtop bent- 

 grass (A. alba) and creeping bentgrass (A. palustris) are utilized for 

 pastures and lawns. Spike bentgrass (A. exarata) is an important 

 forage grass in the western United States. 



Key to the species 



1. Palea present, at least half as long as the lemma (2). 



2. Glumes scabrous over the back; palea nearly as long as the lemma; panicle 



dense, lobed, the branches short, densely flowered. 1. A. semiverticillata. 



2. Glumes scabrous only on the keel; palea about half as long as the lemma; 



panicle open or sometimes contracted but not lobed, the branches 



loosely flowered (3). 



3. Culms erect; rhizomes present; panicle open, the branches ascending. 



2. A. ALBA. 



3. Culms usually decumbent at base; rhizomes none; panicle contracted, 



the branches appressed 3. A. palustris. 



1. Palea wanting or only a small nerveless scale, (rarely longer) (4). 



4. Panicle open, the usually long, very scabrous branches widely spreading or 



drooping, bearing spikelets only toward the ends 4. A. scabra. 



4. Panicle contracted, the short, densely-flowered branches appressed, floriferous 

 from the base or nearly so 5. A. exarata. 



1. Agrostis semiverticillata (Forsk.) C. Chr., Dansk. Bot. Arkiv. 

 4 3 :12. 1922. 

 Apache County to Coconino County, south to Cochise and Pima 

 Counties, at low altitudes, wet ground, especially along streams and 

 ditches, May to October. Texas to Washington, Arizona, and Cali- 

 fornia ; introduced from the Old World. 



