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GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Cynosurus Dogtail This small genus from Eurasia has two spikelet forms: a sterile form (which can have a distinctive fanlike shape) and a fertile form. Two species occur in British Columbia, Cynosurus echinatus and Cynosurus cristatus. Though not collected from the Columbia Basin region, Cynosurus cristatus is sometimes cultivated and may show up in the future. Cynosurus echinatus L. Bristly Dog's Tail Grass Hedgehog Dogtail Plant: Cynosurus echinatus is an introduced species that grows to 20-50 cm tall. It is a clump-forming hairless annual with spiky elongate to egg-shaped heads. Leaves and stem: The flat leaves are 2-5 mm wide and distributed along the stem. The open leaf sheaths are loose and enlarged. There are no auricles, and the prominent ligules extend from 2-7 mm and are rounded and ragged at the tip. Flowerhead and Flowers: The bristly flowerheads appear unbranched with the spikelets tightly grouped into a spikelike to somewhat-rounded head. Spikelets occur mostly in pairs with the sterile spikelet modified into a flattened, bristly fan. The other spikelet is fertile with two shortly awned, nearly equal, glumes. The two flowers of the fertile spikelet have lemmas with long, pointed awns. These awns may reach 10 mm and stick out well beyond the glumes. Habitat: Bristly Dog's Tail Grass occurs in meadows, clearings and open coniferous woodlands. It grows along the shoreline of Kootenay Lake. Similar Species: Bristly Dog's Tail Grass has distinctive pairs of spikelets with one sterile and the other fertile. It should not be confused with any other species.

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