2. Eriochloa contracta Hitchc. (prairie cup grass)

Pl. 163 e, f; Map 660

Flowering stems 15–80 cm long, glabrous or hairy at the nodes. Leaf sheaths hairy, the ligule 0.4–1.0 mm long. Leaf blades 4–18 cm long, 5–12 mm wide, usually glabrous. Inflorescences 5–20 cm long, with 8–22 spikelike racemes, these 1.5–5.0 cm long. Spikelets 3.8–5.0 mm long, mostly occurring singly along the axis of the raceme (paired only toward the base), elliptic‑lanceolate in outline, tapered to a narrow point at the tip. Upper glume 3.6–5.0 mm long, elliptic‑lanceolate, narrowed or tapered to a sharp point at the tip, awnless or with an awn 0.1–1.2 mm long, 5‑nerved. Sterile floret with the lemma 3.6–5.0 mm long, elliptic‑lanceolate, narrowed to a sharp point at the tip, awnless, 5‑ or 7‑nerved. Fertile floret with the lemma 2.3–3.3 mm long, elliptic, rounded at the tip, but with a minute, triangular point 0.1–0.3 mm long. 2n=36. July–October.

Introduced, scattered in the state, mostly in counties along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers (native of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas; possibly Mexico; introduced west to Colorado and California and east to Virginia and Louisiana). Roadsides, railroads, fallow fields, and open, disturbed areas.