THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 79 



are about five-flowered, the flowering g'liime loosel}' hairy, with the teeth 

 about one-fourth its length and very acute. 



It is a grass of very little value. 



Hon. J. S. Gould says : 



As it will grow on hard clay lands where nothing else will, it might be worth while 

 to sow its seeds on such lands, as it is certainly better than nothing ; but the better 

 plan is to manure the soil so that it will produce the richer grasses. 



(Plate 71.) 



Danthonia comfressa. (Mountain Oat grass.) 



This species grows in Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. 

 Mr. 0. G. Pringle sends it from Y ermont growing on dry hillocks along 

 the Waterbury Eiver. It also grows on the summit of the Eoan 

 Mountains, North Carolina, over large areas, and furnishes good sum- 

 mer pasturage. Probably it occurs on the other mountains of the Al- 

 leghany range. It differs from the preceding in forming a compact sod, 

 by having more numerous and larger leaves, by a larger, longer, and 

 spreading panicle, and by the longer, more slender awn-pointed teeth 

 of the flowering glumes. (Plate 72.) 



Danthonla. SERICEA. (Silky-flowered, Oat grass.) 



A. jjerennial grass, 2 to 3 feet high, growing in open, sandy woods, 

 with numerous long, slender, radical leaves, and three or four similar 

 ones on the stem, the sheaths soft, hairy the ligule a mere hmry fringe; 

 culms smooth, flexible; panicle loose and rather contracted, 3 to 4 

 inches long, and 1 or 2 inches wide ; the branches single at the joints, 

 and subdivided from the lower third into a few branchlets, each with 

 one to three spikelets. The spikelets are about seven-flowered, the 

 flowers closely packed and silky hairy; the outer glumes are smooth, 

 half an inch or more in length, longer than all the flowers in the spike- 

 let, linear-lanceolate, the lower one two-nerved and the upper one 

 three-nerved. The flowering glumes are about three lines long, five to 

 seven nerved, the awl-pointed teeth very slender and nearly as long as 

 the rest of the glume, with the middle awn six or seven lines long, 

 sparsely hairy on the back, and copiously white silky on the margins 

 below. This species appears to be confined to the Atlantic States. Its 

 value has not been tested. (Plate 73.) 



Danthonia Californica. (The California Oat grass.) 



A perennial grass of California, Oregon, the Eocky Mountains, and 

 Manitoba; not very common, variable in height, usually 1 to 2 feet, with 

 narrow, convolute and long-pointed root-leaves, those of the culm some- 

 what wider, 3 or 4 inches long, the lower sheaths hairy, especially at the 

 throat. The panicle usually consists of three to five spreading branches, 

 each of which is terminated by a single spikelet. The spikelets are five 

 to seven flowered, widening upwards. The outer glumes are about 

 three-quarters of an inch long, linear-lanceolate, acute, five to seven 



