Blue Grama

Bouteloua gracilis (H.B.K.) Lag.; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2 1:219. 1840.
Chondrosium gracile H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 176. 1816. (Type from Mexico, Humboldt &■
Bonpland.) Actinochloa gracilis Willd.; R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2:418. 1817. (Based on Chondrosium gracile H.B.K.) Atheropogon oligostachyus Nutt. Gen. 1: 78. 1818. (Type from plains of the upper Missouri
uUall].) Eutriana gracilis Trin. Gram. Unifl. 240. 1824. (Based on Actinochloa gracilis Willd.) Atheropogon gracilis Spreng. Syst. 1: 293. 1825. (Based on Chondrosium gracile H.B.K.) Eutriana oligostachya Kunth, R6v. Gram. 96. 1829. (Based on Atheropogon oligostachyus Nutt.) Chondrosium gracile var. polystachyum Nees, Linnaea 19: 692. 1847. (Type from Mexico, Aschen-
born 153.) Chondrosium oligostachyum Torr. in Marcy, Expl. 300. 1853. (Based on Atheropogon oligoslachyum
Nutt.) Bouteloua oligostachya ToTT.; A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 553. 1856. (Based on .4 (/lerof ogon oligostachyus
Nutt.) Bouteloua slricla Vasey Bull. Torrey Club 15: 49, scarcely described. 1888; Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr.
Bot. 12': no. 45. 1890. (Type from western Texas, Nealley.) Bouteloua oligostachya var. major Vasey; L. Dewey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2: 531. 1894. (Type
from Arizona, Lemmon 427.) Bouteloua oligostachya var. pallida Scribn.; Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 418. 1896. (Type from
Mexico, Pringle 407.) BoM(e/o«o£raci7!i var. s/nda Hitchc. Jour. Wash. Acad. 23: 454. 1933. {Rased on B.stricla Vasey.)
Perennial; culms densely tufted, erect, 15-60 cm. tall, glabrous; leaves mostly crowded toward the base, the sheaths glabrous, hispid at the throat, the blades firm, flat at the base, involute-attenuate, curved or flexuous, 5-10 cm. (rarely to 15 cm.) long, 1-2 mm. wide, glabrous or sometimes sparsely pilose, the margins scabrous; spikes 1-3, usually 2, ascending or spreading, straight or somewhat curved, 2-4.5 cm. long (mostly 3-4 cm.); first glume narrow, acuminate, 3 mm. long, the second broader, acuminate, 4 mm. long, very sparsely papillose-hispid on the keel, otherwise glabrous; lemma 4 mm. long, bearded at the base, long-pilose on both sides of the midnerve, the margins shortly ciliate, the tip shallowly lobed, the central awn about 1 mm. long, the lateral ones a little longer; rudiment 2 mm. long, densely bearded at the base, the lobes broad, cucullate, the awns about 3 mm. long, an additional awnless rudimentary floret sometimes developed.
Type locality: Mexico {Humboldt &• Bonpland).
Distribution: Prairies and open ground, Manitoba and Alberta, and southward and southwestward to Texas, southern California, and Mexico.