32 THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



long aiid ODe-third to one-half an inch wide. They are smooth on both 

 sides and roiighish on the margins. The raceme is from 5 to 8 inches 

 long, composed of from tive to ten somewhat spreading spikes, wbich 

 are 3 inches or more in length, and 1 or 2 inches apart on the rather 

 slender axis, the upper ones are gradually shorter, all with a few long 

 hairs at the base. The spikelets are closelj^ arranged in four rows, two 

 on each side of the narrow and nearly straight axis, in alternate pairs. 

 They are about one and a half lines long, ovate, acutely pointed, crowded 

 and overlapping each other, compressed, and the margins clothed with 

 silky hairs. The two outer or empty glumes are ovate, acute, tive- 

 nerved, nearly smooth, except the fringe of thin white hairs on the mar- 

 gin. The flowering glume is thick and firm, and very delicately punc- 

 tate under a magnifier. The palet tits inside the margin of the flower- 

 ing glume and inclosing the stamens and styles. This species has been 

 found in Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. It is 

 also a South American species. It has been called Paspalum ovatum, 

 but the name first given is the proper one. It Avas described in the 

 Agricultural Report for 1880, and has since then been noticed and ex- 

 perimented with by several i^ersous. (Plate 2.) * 



Several other species of the same general appearance and habit occur 

 in the Southern States, among which may be named Faspahim lenti- 

 ferum, F. Floridanum^ and F. pJicatiilum. Quite recently another spe- 

 cies has been brought to our notice by Mr. H. B. Richards, of La Grange, 

 Tex. It has been called Faspalum remotum, and Mr. Richards states 

 that it roots at every joint and sends up shoots like a layered grai)e- 

 viue; it remains green all winter, and it is almost impossible to destroy 

 it by cultivation. Plowing spreads it, as every stem broken off takes 

 root again. It can only be killed by digging out every particle and ex- 

 posing it to the hot sun. All soils seem to be equally acceptable to it 5 

 it grows as well in the shade as in the sunshine. Drought does not 

 seem to aflect it. Stock like it both in winter and summer. A single 

 seed or joint has been known to s[)read over an area of five or six feet 

 in diameter in a single season, with a perfect mat of grass firmly rooted 

 all over. It evidently will bear close pasturage and hard tramping. 

 The difficulty of eradicating it will be an objection to it in the opinion 

 of some, but where it is desirable to make a permanent pasture this fea- 

 ture would seem to be an advantage. More extended observation and 

 exi)eriment with this grass is highly desirable. 



Another species of Faspalitm, having the same creeping habit, has 

 been observed in several of the Southern States. It is the Faspalum 

 platycaule. It is a grass of lower growth and smaller size than the pre. 

 ceding. It occurs in all the Gulf States, as well as in the West Indies and 

 in South America. Mr. Benjamin Brodnax, of Morehouse Parish, Lou- 

 isiana, has given a very full account of its habits in a Southern agricult- 

 ural paper. He says the mode of growth is flat to the ground, taking 

 root at every joint and spreading in every direction. It efl'ectually kills 



