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EBRAGROSTIS. 
Spikelets several; usually many-flowered, pedicellate or sessile, in a loose and 
spreading, or narrow and clustered panicle ; the rhachis of the spikelets usually gla- 
brous and articulate under the flowering glumes, but often tardily so, and sometimes 
inarticulate. Outer empty glumes unequal, and rather shorter than the flowering 
ones, keeled, one-nerved ; flowering glumes obtuse or acute, unawned, three-nerved, 
the keel prominent, the lateral nerves sometimes very faint; palet shorter than the 
glume, with two prominent nerves or keels, often persisting after the glume and 
grain have fallen away. 
Eragrostis major. 
This is a foreign grass which has become extensively naturalized, 
not only in the older States, but in many places in the Western and 
Southwestern Territories. It is found in waste and cultivated grounds, - 
and on roadsides, growing in thick tufts, which spread out over the 
ground by means of the geniculate and decumbent culins. The culins 
are from 1 to 2 feet long, the lower joints bent and giving rise to 
long branches. The sheaths are shorter than the ee the 
leaves from 3 to 6 inches long. The panicle is frequently 4 or 5 inches 
long, oblong or pyramidal, somewhat open, but full-flowered; the 
branches single or in pairs, branched and flowering nearly to its base. 
This grass is said to have a disagreeable odor when fresh. It produces 
an abundance of foliage, and is apparently an annual, reaching matu- 
rity late in the season. We are not aware that its agricultural value 
has been tested. (Plate 70.) 
Eragrostis Abyssinica. 
Hragrostis Abyssinica is a species which has been introduced from 
Abyssinia, and cultivated in Florida and some of the Southern and 
Southwestern States, and is said to be remarkably productive and val- 
uable for hay. It is an annual grass, growing to the height of 2 to 3 feet. 
The native Abyssinian name of this grass is “teff,” and from the 
seecs the Abyssinians make their bread. It may be cultivated with 
ease at a height of 6,000 or 7,000 teet above the sea-level, where maize 
can hardly thrive. It comes to maturity in four months, yields forty 
times its volume of seed, and, in the best variety, is said to make a 
white, delicious bread. The traveler Biuce mentions tef’ with ap- 
proval, and there is some account of it in other books. The Royal 
Gardens of Kew obtained a quantity of seed, of which they sent a por- 
tion to the U. 8. Department of Agriculture, and by the Department 
it has been distributed to the agricultural stations for trial. There 
are many other species, but none of much agricultural importance. 
DISTICHLIS. 
Distichlis maritima (Salt Grass; Akaline Grass). 
It has strong, creeping root stocks covered with imbricated leaf. sheaths, sending 
up culms from 6 to 18 inches high, which are clothed nearly to the top with the 
numerous, sometimes crowded, two-ranked leaves. The leaves are generally rigid 
