VI. AGBOSTEDEAE
7. HOLCUS L
Tall perennial with numerous long rootstocks, broad flat leaves, and large terminal panicles; spikelets in pairs or 3's at the ends of the branches, one sessile and perfect, the others pedicellate and staminate, dorsally compressed, pubescent or glabrous;
glumes indurated; lemma hyaline, awned or awnless; stamens 3; styles distinct.
1 N. Amer. Fl. 17:120. 1912.
52 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM.
1. Holcus halepensis L. Sp. PI. 1047.1753. Johnson grass.
Andropogon halepensis Brot. Fl. Lusit 1: 89.1804.
Sorghum halepeme Vets. Syn. Fl. 1:101.1805.
Type locality: "Habitat in Syria, Mauritania."
Range: Native of the Old World, widely introduced into North America, frequent as a weed in cultivated fields.
New Mexico: Nara Visa; Mangas Springs; Hillsboro; Gila; Deming; Meeilla Valley; Pecos Valley.
This is common in several parts of New Mexico, especially in the irrigated rivpr valleys. So far it has not been introduced into the valley of the San Juan, but it is well established in those of the Rio Grande and Pecos. In some parts of the State it has been cultivated for hay. Unfortunately it is a very troublesome weed, and in the Rio Grande Valley has become a dangerous pest in alfalfa fields, taking possession of them and crowding out the less aggressive alfalfa.
8. SORGHASTRTJK Nash. Indian grass.
Stout perennials with racemes arranged in open panicles; spikelets sessile at each joint of the slender rachis of the peduncled racemes, these reduced to 2 or 3 joints;
sterile spikelcts reduced to hairy pedicels; glumes indurated; sterile lemma hyaline, the fertile lemma reduced to hyaline appendages to the stout awn; palea obsolete.
1. Sorghastrum nutann (L.) Nash in Small, Fl. Southeast. U. S. 66. 1903.
Andropogon nutans L. Sp. PI. 1045.1763.
Andropogon avenaceus Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 58.1803.
Sorghum nutans A. Gray, Man. 617.1848.
Type locality: "Habitat in Virginia, Jamaica."
Range : British America to Arizona and Florida.
New Mexico: Teauque; Las Vegas; Clayton; East View; Kingston; RioMimbres.
Plains, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
9. HETEROPOGON Pers.
Coarse perennial with narrow leaves, compressed sheaths, and terminal solitary dense racemes; spikelets 1-flowered, in pairs at the rachis nodes, one sessile and fertile, the other pedicellate and staminate or sterile; glumes firm, convolute, awnless; lemma small, hyaline, awned; palea small and hyaline, or wanting; stamens 3; styles distinct,
1. Heteropogon contortus (L.) Roem. & Schult. Syst. Veg. 3: 836. 1817.
'Andropogon contortus L. Sp. PI. 1045. 1753.
Type locality: "Habitat in India.1'
Range: Arizona and New Mexico to Tropical America; in tropical lands nearly around the world.
New Mexico: Hillsboro; Tortugas Mountain; Organ Mountains. Dry hills, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones.
10. NAZIA Adans.
Diffusely branched annual with flat leaves and terminal spikelike inflorescence;
apikelets in groups of 3 to several at each joint of the main axis, the uppermost in each fascicle sterile, 1-flowered; first glume minute or wanting; second glume rigid, exceeding the lemma, its back covered with hooked spines; lemma and palea hya- line; stamens 3; styles short and distinct; grain oblong, free.
1. Nazia aUena (Spreng.) Scribn, U, S. Dept. Agr, Div. Agrost. Bull. 17: 28. 1899.
Lappago aliena Spreng. Neu. Entd. 3:15.1822.
Tragus alimus Schult. Mant. 2: 205. 1824.
Type locality: "Hab. in Brasilia."
WOOTON AND STANDLEY—FLORA OF NEW MEXICO. 53
Ranoe : Western Texas and southern Arizona to Mexico, and throughout tropical America.
New Mexico: Mogollon Mountains; Mangas Springs; Lake Valley; Socorro; Dem- ing; Burro Mountains; Organ Mountains; Carrizozo. Dry sandy soil, in the Lover 8onoran Zone.
11. HILABIA H. B. K.
Cespitose or decumbent perennials, often stoloniferous, with flat or involute leaves and terminal solitary spikes; spikelets sessile, in groups of 3 at each joint of the flexu- ous continuous rachis, the groups falling off entire, the 2 outer or anterior spikelets etaminate and 2 or 3-flowered, the posterior or inner one pistillate or hermaphrodite and 1-fiowered; glumes firm, unequal, many-nerved, more or less connate below,
entire at the apex or divided, usually unequally 2-lobed with 1 to several inter- mediate awns or awnlike divisions; lemmas narrow; stamens 3; styles united below;
grain ovoid or oblong, free.
EET TO THE SPECIES.
Base of glumes with black or purplish glands 1. H. cenchroides.
Glumes not glandular.
Glumes cuneate, awnless, the nerves divergent 2. H. mutica.
Glumes linear or oblong, awned, the nerves approximate 3. E. jamesii.
1. Hilaxia cenchroides H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1:117. pi. 37.1816,
Texas curly mesquite grass.
Type locauty: "Crescit in planitie montana regni Mexican!, inter Zelaya et Guanaxuato, locis subfrigidis, alt. 980 hexap."
Range: Western Texas and southwestern New Mexico and southward.
New Mexico: Mangas Springs; Cook Spring. Dry hills, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
2. Hilaxia mutica (Buckl.) Benth. Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 19: 62.1881.
Tobosa grass.
PUwraphis mutica Buckl. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1862: 95. 1863.
Type locality: "Northern Texas."
Range : Western Texas to southern Arizona and adjacent Mexico.
New Mexico: Common on the plains and low hilla from the Black Range and White Mountains southward; also collected by Bigelow at Laguna Colorado. Lower and Upper Sonoran zones.
Tobosa grass is one of the most important range grasses on the plains and mesas of southern New Mexico, being usually associated with black grama. Stock do not eat it
after it has dried, because of its hard and somewhat woody sterna, but they thrive upon it in late summer after the rains. It grows most frequently in flats that are sometimes flooded, being able to resist flooding for considerable periods. It is also very resist- ant to trampling.
8, Httarla jamesii (Torr.) Benth. Joum. Linn. Soc. Bot. 19: 62. 1881.
GALL ETA GRASS.
Plturaphis jamesii Torr. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. 1:148. pi. 10. 1824.
Type locality: "On the high plains of the Trap Formation at the sources of the Canadian River," Colorado or New Mexico. Type collected by James.
Range: Wyoming and Nevada to Texas.
N ew Mexico : Abundant on the plains from the Mogollon Mountains, Engle, and the White Mountains northward and eastward. Plains, in the Upper Sonoran Zone.
Galleta grass occupies the same position in northern New Mexico as tobosa in the southern part. It is by far the most abundant and characteristic plant on the piains in the northwestern corner of the State, often forming practically pure stands for
%
54 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM.
many miles. It is probably the second most valuable range grass of New Mexico, being an excellent forage plant, very persistent, and not easily killed by overstocking.
10. VALOTA Adans.
Tufted perennials with flat leaves and narrow or contracted, densely hairy pani- cles; spikelets numerous, articulated below the glumes, 1-flowered; glumes mem- branous, densely silky-pilose or long-ciliate on the margins, often acuminate, some- times with a short bristle at the apex; lemma chartaceous, glabrous and shining, finally indurated; stamens 3; styles distinct.
1. Valota saccharata (Buckl.) Chase, Proc. Biol, Soc. Washington 19: 188. 1906.
Panicum lachnanthum Torr. U. S. Rep. Expl. Miss. Pacif. 73: 21.1856, not Ilochst.
1855.
Panicum saccharatum Buckl. Prel. Rep. Geol. Agr. Surv. Tex. App. 2. 1866.
Trichachne saccharatum Nash in Small, PI. Southeast. U. S. 83. 1903.
Type locality: "Middle Texas."
Range : Colorado and Texas to Arizona and Mexico.
New Mexico: Albuquerque; Mangas Springs; Black Range; Dog Spring; Dona Ana and Organ Mountains; Causey. Dry hills and plains, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones.
13. 6YNTHERISMA Walt.
Annuals with branched culms, thin flat leaves, and subdigitate inflorescence;
spikelets 1-flowered, lanceolate-elliptic, sessile or short-pedicelcd, solitary or in 2's and 3's in 2 rows on one side of a continuous, narrow or winged rachis, forming slender racemes, these aggregated toward the top of the culm; glumes 1 to 3-nerved, the first sometimes obsolete; sterile lemma 5-nerved, the fertile indurated, papillose-striate, with a hyaline margin.
1. Syntherisma sanguinald (L.) Dulac, Fl. Haut. Pyr. 77.1867. Ckabgrass.
Panicum sanguinale L. Sp. PI. 57. 1753.
Digitaria sanguinalis Scop. Fl. Cam, ed. 2. 1: 52.1772.
Type locality: " Habitat in America, Europa australi."
Range: Cultivated and waste grounds in nearly all parts of the United States, introduced from Europe.
New Mexico: Galisteo; Animae Creek; Deming; Mesilla Valley; Guadalupe Mountains.
14. LEPTOLOMA Chase.
Tufted perennials with flat leaves and diffuse terminal panicles, these breaking away at maturity and becoming "tumbleweeds;" spikelets 1-flowered, fusiform, solitary on long capillary pedicels; first glume obsolete or minute, the second 3-nerved, nearly as long as the 5 to 7-nerved sterile lemma; fertile lemma indurated, papillose, with a hyaline margin, this not inrolled; grain free.
1. Leptoloma cognatum (Schult.) Chase, Proc, Biol. Soc. Washington 19:92.1906.
Fall witch grass.
Panicum cognatum Schult. Mant. 2: 235. 1824.
Panicum autumnale Bosc; Spreng. Syst. Veg, 1:320.1825. , Type locality: "In Carolina."
Range: New Hampshire and Florida to Minnesota, New Mexico, and Mexico.
New Mexico: Organ Mountains; Knowles; Buchanan; Tortugas Mountain;
Roswell. Dry soil, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones.
15. ERIOCHLOA H. B. K.
Annuals or perennials with usually flat leaves and terminal panicles composed of numerous somewhat one-sided racemes; spikelets 1-flowered, hermaphrodite; rachilla jointed below the glumes and expanded into a distinct ringlike callus; glumes 2, the
WOOTON AND STANDLEY—FLORA OP NEW MEXICO 55
first reduced to a ring at the articulation, the second equaling the lemma, membrana*
ceous, more or less acuminate; lemma slightly indurated, mucronate or shortly awn- pointed; palea shorter than the lemma; stamens 3; styles distinct; grain included within the hardened lemma, free.
1. Eriochloa polyst&chya H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 95. pi. SI. 1816.
Type locality: Near Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Range: Florida and Arizona to Mexico and Tropical America.
New Mexico: Gelen; Mesilla Valley; Pena Blanca; White Mountains. Moist ground, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones.