49 
It varies much in luxuriance of foliage and size of panicle, according 
to the location. 
The culms are from 3 to 5 feet high, stout and hollow, hence in some places it is 
called the small reed grass. The leaves are 1 foot or more long, flat, from a quarter 
to nearly half an inch wide, and roughish; the stem and sheaths smooth. 
The panicle is oblong in outline, open, and somewhat spreading, especially during 
flowering; it is from 4 to 6 or even 8 inches in length, and 2 or 3 inches in diameter, 
of a purplish color; the branches are mostly in fives at intervals of an inch or less. 
These branches vary in length from 1 to 3inches, the long ones flowering only toward 
the extremity. The spikelets are short-stalked, the outer glumes about one and one- 
half lines long, lanceolate and acute; the silky white hairs at the base of the flower- 
ing glume are about as long as the glume; those on the sterile pedicel also nearly as 
long. The flowering glume is thin and delicate, about as long as the outer glumes, 
and somewhat finely toothed at the apex, three to five-nerved, and bearing on the 
back, below the middle, a delicate awn, reaching about to the point of the glume, and 
not much stouter than the hairs. The proper palet is thin, oblong, and about two- 
thirds the length of its glume. 
Mr. J. 8S. Gould says: 
It constitutes about one-third of the natural grasses on the Beaver Dam Meadows 
of the Adirondacks. It is certain that cattle relish it very much, both in its green 
state and when made into hay, and it is equally certain thatthe farmers who have it 
on their farms believe it to be one of the best grasses of their meadows. 
Professor Crozier, who spent some time in northwestern Iowa and 
adjacent parts of Minnesota and Dakota, in studying the native grasses, 
Says: 
This is considered by some to produce the best hay for cattle of all the native 
grasses. It is very leafy, and stands remarkably thick on the ground. The seed 
ripens early in July, but the leaves remain green until winter. It is probably 
hardly equal to some of the upland grassss in quality, but it gives a larger yield, and | 
is undoubtedly worthy of cultivation. Itis usually found upon the margins of ponds; 
it will thrive, however, on land that is onty slightly moist, and often occurs along 
the banks of roadside ditches. On rather low land which has been broken and 
allowed to go back it frequently comes in, and after a few years occupies the land to 
the exclusion of all other vegetation. 
(Plate 51.) 
Calamagrostis (Deyeuxia) sylvatica (Bunch Grass). 
A coarse perennial grass, growing in large tufts, usually in sandy 
ground in the Rocky Mountains at various altitudes, also in California, 
Oregon, and British America. It furnishes an abundant coarse forage 
in the regions where it is found. The culms are from 1 to 2 feet high, 
erect, rigid, and leafy; the radical leaves are frequently as long as the > 
culm, two or three lines wide, sometimes flat, but generally involute 
and rigid. The culm leaves are from 3 to 6 or 8 inches long, rigid 
and rough. The panicle is narrow and spike-like, 3 to 5 inches long, 
erect, rather dense, sometimes interrupted below, and varying from pale 
green to purple. (Plate 52.) 
Calamagrostis longifolia. 
This grass grows on the sandy plains of the interior from British America to Ari- 
zona, and on the borders of the Great Lakes. It has strong, running rootstocks, like 
3594 GR——4 
