Wheatgrasses. This group, containing both bunchgrasses and 
sodformers, is adapted to the drier sites of the West. It includes 
native species such as bluebunch, western, and slender wheatgrasses, 
as well as introduced species such as crested, intermediate, and tall 
wheatgrasses, widely used for seeding depleted rangelands. These 
large:seeded species are particularly easy to establish and are 
remarkably free from disease. 
Other grasses for cover. Redtop, ryegrasses, lovegrasses, or- 
chardgrass, and smooth brome are useful perennial grasses adapted 
to a wide variety of conditions. They not only provide nutritious 
forage for wildlife and livestock but also make a tough ground cover, 
tolerant to mowing, grazing, or trampling. Bermuda and Bahia are 
warm-season grasses especially well adapted to the South. They 
spread by runners and form dense sods that are good for roadside 
turf and for controlling erosion. 
Ornamental grasses. Although grasses are most commonly used 
to provide an attractive roadside cover, a few species are best known 
for their beautiful seed heads. Among these, Natalgrass with its 
striking panicles of silky, pink spikelets is a noteworthy species for the 
South, as is also sea oats with its graceful, drooping panicles of large, 
extraordinarily flattened spikelets. An ornamental species of the 
West, well adapted to roadsides, is Indian ricegrass, which grows in 
graceful, spreading clumps | to 2 feet tall. Its feathery silver-white 
spikelets borne on hairlike stalks are a striking feature along arid 
embankments from Manitoba to California. Another chiefly west- 
Pampasgrass. 
y 
B—390529 
er grass, sideoats grama, occurring on plains and rocky hills, is 
notable for its pendent, purplish spikelets arranged along one side 
of the stem, suggestive of a necklace. 
For occasional beauty accents on sites that do not require mowing, 
such spectacular grasses as pampasgrass and silvergrass may be used. 
The reputation of pampasgrass for decorative purposes is so well 
established that in southern California it is grown commercially for 
its plumes. The arching stalks are grouped in bamboolike clusters, 
frequently reaching a height of 20 feet, and the silvery white to pink 
plumes may themselves be 3 feet long, resembling gigantic feather- 
dusters. Silvergrass or eulalia, another robust species, is uniquely 
attractive for its silvery plumes, which are tossed about by the slightest 
breeze. 
Bunchgrass. F—121132 Crested wheatgrass. 
B—437889 
