50 THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OB THE UNITED STATES. 



some, unsightly weed, it has its good qualities, vrliich entitle it to a more charitable 

 cou^i^leration. In the dry pine woods it contributes, while green and tender, a large 

 share to the sustenance of stock. 



(Pi ate 25.) 



3. Ais^DROPOGON MACRorm s. (Heavy topped Broom grass.) 



This species is frequent ou low sandy ground near the coast, from 

 New Jersey to Florida and thence westward to Texas. It has a stout 

 culm 2 to 3 or even 4 or 5 feet high, bushy branched at the summit, 

 loaded with numerous flower-spikes, which foim thick leaJ'y clusters. 

 The spikelets have the same general structure as the precediog. The 

 fertile flower has a capillary awn three or four times as long as its glume, 

 and the sterile flower, which is usually present in the genus, is reduced 

 to a mere point at the apex of th e slender plumose pedicel. (Plate 26.) 



4. AxDROPOGON PURCATUS. (Fihger-spiked Broom grass, Blue Stem.) 

 This is the tallest of our species. It grows erect to the height of 5 



or 6 feet, in rocky or hilly ground, or at the West it is abundant on the 

 native prairies, where it is frequently c ailed blue stem. The leaves are 

 long and frequently somewhat hairy on the sheaths and margins. The 

 spikes are in small clusters of three to six, terminating the stalk, and 

 also several clusters from the side branches. The spikes are usually 2 

 to 3 inches long, rather rigid, and contain ten to twenty points each. 

 At each joint there is one sessile, perfect flower, and one stalked one, 

 which is male onlj^, otherwise it is nearly like the fertile one. The 

 outer glumes are about 4 lines long, the upper ones tipped with a short 

 stifl' awn. The flowering glume of the perfect flower is twisted and 

 about one-half inch long. 



This species, as above stated, is abundant on the prairies of the West, 

 where it is one of the principal hay grasses of the country, and is exten- 

 sively cut and cured for winter use. (Plate 27.) 



Chrysopogon nutans. (Indian grass, Wood grass.) 



This is a near relative of the A]uJyo])ogo}is ; is also related to the 

 genus Sorghum, and is known in the botanical works as Sorghum 

 nutans. It is a tall, perennial grass, having a wide range over all the 

 country east of the Eocky Mountains. It grows rather sparsely and 

 forms a thin bed of grass. The stalks are 3 to 4 feet high, smooth, hol- 

 low, straight, and having at the top a narrow panicle of handsome straw- 

 colored or brownish flowers, 6 to 12 inches long, which is gracefully 

 drooping at the top. The spikelets are at the ends of the slender 

 branches of the loose panicle, generally of a yellowish color. At the 

 base of each spikelet are two (one on each side) short, feathery pedicels, 

 the flowers which they are supposed to have been made to support have 

 entirely disapx)eared. The outer glumes are about three lines long, 

 both alike lanceolate, obtusish, coriaceous five to seven nerved, the 

 lower one sparsely hairy, and with hairs at the base and on the stalk 

 below. 



