FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 139 



sides of the slender, flattened axis; spikes falling 1 entire, consisting of 

 3 spikelets, the lateral ones 2-flowered, staminate or sterile, the central 

 spikelet 3-flowered, the lowest floret pistillate or rarely perfect, the 

 upper florets staminate or sterile; lemmas dissimilar, the lower ones 

 cleft about one-fourth their length, awned from between the lobes, the 

 awns equaling or slightly exceeding them, the upper lemmas deeply 

 cleft, their awns villous in the lower part, extending as much as 3 mm. 

 beyond the lobes. 



1. Cathestecum erectum Vasey and Hack., Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 



11: 37. 1884. 

 Southern Arizona, without locality (E. Palmer in 1869), dry hills and 

 plains. Western Texas, southern Arizona, and northern Mexico. 



58. MUXROA. False-buffalograss 



Freely branching, widely decumbent-spreading annual with short, 

 firm, pungent leaf blades and short spikes hidden in the crowded 

 sheaths at the ends of the branches; spikes composed of 2 or 3 spike- 

 lets, the lower one or two 3- or 4-flowered, the upper spikelet 2- or 3- 

 flowered; glumes of the lower 1 or 2 spikelets equal, 1 -nerved, those 

 of the upper spikelet much shorter, the first about half as long as the 

 second; lemmas 3-nerved, excurrent in short awns, the central awn 

 longer and stouter than the lateral awns. 



1. Munroa squarrosa (Xutt.) Torr., U. S. Rpt. Expl. Miss. Pacif. 4": 

 158. 1857. 



Crypsis squarrosa Xutt., Gen. PL 1: 49. 1818. 



Apache, Navajo, Coconino, Mohave, and Yavapai Counties, 4,000 

 to 5,500 feet, open plains and hills, June to October. Alberta to 

 Texas and Arizona. 



Xot infrequently plants are found with a white weblike covering, 

 the remains of egg cases of a woolly aphid. 



59. BUCHLOE. Buffalograss 



Stoloniferous perennial with short slender culms and flat narrow 

 leaf blades; plants monoecious or dioecious, sometimes with perfect 

 flowers; staminate spikes 1 to 4, pectinate, the spikelets 2- or 3- 

 flowered, the glumes acute, the second glume about twice as long as 

 the first, the lemmas acute or subobtuse, 3-nerved, awnless; pistillate 

 spikes 1 or 2, falling entire, the short, thickened, indurate rachis and 

 second glumes forming a false involucre around the spikelets, the 

 spikelets 1 -flowered, the first glume thin, acuminate, sometimes obso- 

 lete, the lemma indurate, 3-toothed, with margins overlapping and 

 enclosing the palea, the palea firm, about as long as the lemma. 



1. Buchloe dactyloides (Xutt.) Engelm., Acad. Sci. St. Louis Trans. 

 1: 432. 1859. 



Sesleria dactyloides Xutt., Gen. PI. 1: 65. 1818. 



Bulbilis dactyloides Raf. ex Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PL 2: 763. 1891. 



Rocky limestone soil on ridge running from Promontory to Tonto 

 Creek, Gila County (Forest Service 58246). Minnesota to Montana. 

 south to Iowa, western Louisiana, and Arizona. 



A dominant forage grass in the Great Plains region, but very rare 

 in Arizona. 



