298 
OHIO BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 
whose rachis is bifid at the apex. Spikelets 4-12 on each branch; 
lemma scabrous, ending in 3 short awns; sterile lemma with 2 acute 
lobes and 3 straight awns. 
A valuable hay and pasture grass. In dry soil. July-Sept. Lake, 
Erie, Ottawa, Franklin, Adams. 
34. Bouteloua Lag. Mesquite-grass. 
Annual or perennial usually gray-green grasses with narrow, flat, 
or convolute leaves and numerous spikelets in 1-sided spikes. Spike- 
lets 1-2-flowered, arranged in two rows on one side of a flat rachis 
and bearing 1-3 awns and 1-3 rudimentary glumes; empty glumes 
unequal, keeled; lem^ma 3-5-nerved, 3-toothed, the teeth awn-pointed 
or awned; palet hyaline, 2-keeled, 2-toothed; grain free. 
1. Rachilla glabrous; inner empty glume strongly papillose-hispid on the keel. 
B. hirsuta. 
1. Rachilla with a tuft of hairs; inner empty glume scabrous and sometimes 
sparingly long-ciliate on the keel. B. oligostachya. 
1. Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. Hairy Mesquite-grass. A gray- 
green grass with erect stems l4-l^ ft. high, leafy at the base, and 
with an inflorescence of 1-4 erect or ascending spikes whose rachis 
extends beyond the spikelets as a conspicuous point. Spikelets 
numerous; outer empty glume setaceous, the inner conspicuously 
tuberculate-hirsute on the keel; fertile lemma pubescent, 3-cleft, 
the divisions awn-pointed; rachilla without a tuft of hairs under the 
vestigial glumes and awns. 
A valuable pasture grass in the West. In dry soil, especially on 
prairies. July-Sept. Waifs in Franklin County. 
2. Bouteloua oligostachya (Nutt.) Torr. Smooth Alesquite- 
grass. A gray-green grass with erect, simple stems, j4-2^ ft. high 
with involute curly leaves, and with an inflorescence of 1-3 spikes 
often strongly curved, the rachis terminating in a short inconspicuous 
point. Spikelets numerous, outer empty glume hyaline, shorter than 
the membranous inner one which is scabrous and sometimes long- 
ciliate on the keel or with a few papillae; fertile, lemma pilose, 
3-cleft, the divisions short-awned; sterile lemma consisting of two 
truncate lobes and three equal awns with a tuft of long hairs at the 
base. 
A valuable pasture grass in the West. On dry prairies. July- 
Sept. Waifs in Franklin County. 
