70 THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



OregOD, aud British America. It furnislies an abunclant coarse forage 

 in the regions where it is found. The culms are from 1 to 2 feet high, 

 erect, rigid, and leafy -, the radicle leaves are frequently as long as the 

 culm, two or three lines wide, sometimes flat, but generally involute 

 and rigid. The cnlm leaves are from 3 to 6 or 8 inches long, rigid and 

 rough. The i^anicle is narrow and spike-like, 3 to 5 inches long, erect, 

 rather dense, sometimes interrupted below, and varying from pale green 

 to purple. The branches are mostly in fives, very short and rough. 

 The spikelets are about a quarter of an inch long, on short, rough pedi- 

 cels ; the outer glumes are nearlj' equal, ovate-lanceolate, long and sharp 

 pointed, the upper one three-nerved, the lower one-nerved. The flower- 

 ing^glume is about one-third shorter, of similar texture, three-nerved, 

 four-toothed at the apex, and bearing on the back a twisted and bent 

 awn longer than the glume. The hairs at the base are scanty and short, 

 those of the rudiment about half as long as the flower. The palet is 

 about half as long as its glume, thin, two-nerved, and two toothed at 

 the apex. (Plate 60.) 



Deyeuxia Howellii. (Howell's grass.) 



Culms densely tufted, 1 to 2 feet high, erect or somewhat geniculate 

 below, smooth; radical leaves numerous, as long as the culm, firm, but 

 not rigid, inclined to be involute, the ligule conspicuous, about one and 

 one-half lines long, scariousj culm with three or four leaves which are 

 4 to 6 inches long, the upper one nearly equaling the culm. Panicle 

 pyramidal, loose and spreading, 3 to 4 inches long, the branches mostly 

 in fives, the lower ones 1 to 1^ inches long, numerously flowered above 

 the middle. Spikelets pale green or tinged with purple, outer glumes 

 lanceolate, acute, two and one-half to three lines long, nearly equal, 

 membranaceous, the upper three-nerved, the lower one-nerved ; flower- 

 ing glume slightly shorter than the outer ones, lanceolate, acute, three 

 to five nerved, the apex bifid, usually with four mucronate points, a 

 conspicuous strong awn one-half inch long, inserted on the back about 

 the lower third, a tuft of short hairs, and a hairy x^edicel about half as 

 long as the floret; palet nearly as long as its glume, thin, acute, and 

 two- toothed at the apex. 



This grass has recently been discovered in Oregon by Mr. T. J. Howell, 

 and also in Washington Territory by Mr. W. N. Suksdorf. From its 

 habit of growth and the great abundance of foliage, it gives promise 

 of being a valuable grass for cultivation. (Plate Gl.) 



Ammophila. , 



This genus differs very little from Deyeuxia^ but chiefly in the absence 

 of the awn on the back of the flowering glume. 



Ammophila arundinacea. (Sea-sand reed. Beach grass. Mat grass.) 



This is the Calamagrostis arenaria of the olden books. The entire 



l)lant is of a whitish or pale-green color. It grows on sandy beaches 



