FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 123 



12. Sporobolus airoides Torr., U. S. Rpt. Expl. Miss. Pacif. 7: 21. 



1856. 



Agrostis airoides Torr., Ann. Lye. N. Y. 1: 151. 1824. 



Apache, Navajo, Coeonino, Yavapai, Maricopa, Cochise, Santa 

 Cruz, and Pima Counties, 1 ,000 to 5,500 feet, often in saline soil, 

 June to October. South Dakota to eastern Washington, south to 

 Texas, Arizona, and southern California. 



13. Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn., Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 9: 



103. 1882. 

 Navajo, Coconino, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties, 2,000 

 to 5,600 feet, dry sandy open ground, rocky slopes, and river banks, 

 July to October, type from Pantano, Pima County (Pringle). West- 

 ern Texas to southern California and central Mexico. 



41. BLEPHARONEURON 



Densely tufted perennial with slender, flat or involute, more or less 

 flexuous blades, and narrow, open panicles; glumes subobtuse, nearly 

 equal or the second a little longer and broader; lemma broad, abruptly 

 pointed, densely pubescent on the nerves; palea slightly longer than 

 the lemma, densely villous between the nerves. 



1. Blepharoneuron tricholepis (Torr.) Nash, Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 



25: 88. 1898. 



Vilfa tricholepis Torr., U. S. Rpt. Expl. Miss. Pacif. 4: 155. 

 1857. 



Apache, Coconino, Graham, Cochise, and Pima Counties, 2,300 to 

 9,500 feet, dry or moist open woods, July to October. Colorado to 

 Utah, south to Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. 



This grass, sometimes known as pine-dropseed, is valuable for forage. 



42. ORYZPPS1S. Ricegrass 



Slender perennials with flat or involute blades and narrow or open 

 panicles; glumes equal, gradually or abruptly acuminate; lemma firm, 

 terete, glabrous or villous, with a short rather blunt callus, and a 

 short, straight or weakly geniculate, deciduous awn. 



Indian ricegrass (0. hymenoides) sometimes known as Indian-millet, 

 furnishes much forage on arid sandy plains in northern Arizona. In 

 former times it was cut for hay and the seeds were utilized for food 

 by the Indians. The other species are palatable but less abundant. 



Key to the species 



1. Spikelets 3 to 4 mm. long; fruit glabrous or rarely pubescent, 2 to 2.5 mm. 

 long; panicle branches slender, finally spreading, spikelet bearing toward 

 the ends 3. O. micrantha. 



1. Spikelets 6 to 10 mm. long; fruit densely villous, 3 to 5 mm. long (2). 



2. Panicle diffuse, the branches in pairs, the branchlets and pedicels divari- 

 cately spreading, flexuous; fruit 3 mm. long 1. O. hymenoides. 



2. Panicle rather narrow, the branches stiffly ascending, the branchlets and 

 pedicels usually appressed; fruit 5 mm. long 2. O. bloomeri. 



