OF THE PERTJTIAN AKDES. 61 



are tshurt and glubrousj and the sheaths do not approach the 

 summit of the culm as thej do in that species, which has much 

 longer leaves, always more or less scabrous. 



DissANTHELiUM SUPINUM, Triti. Chicla ! A minute species 

 with culms two inches in heiii:ht. 



Eragrostis tephrosakthos, Spreng. (sub Poa) ? Upper valley 

 of the Bimac ! A doubtful species. 



The species of the genus Foa have been so much confused, and 

 the descriptions of many species of which I have not seen 

 authentic specimens are so imperfect, that, with the exception of 

 the first, I think it best to designate by numbers the forms which 

 I collected in the Peruvian Andes, trusting to be able at some 

 future time to submit them to the examination of the accom- 

 plished agrostologist Professor Hackel, who has undertaken the 

 great task of revising the entire natural order. 



Poa ankua, L. Chicla ! It is an illustration of th-e remark- 

 able power of adaptation to different external conditions possessed 

 by several grasses, that in the course of the same tour I found 

 this cosmopolitan species flowering in the Andes, in the Straits 

 of Magellan (in winter), and within the tropics in Brazil. 



Poa No. 1, Chicla! A tall grass with culms 3 to 6 feet in 

 height ; the leaves of the flowering culm striated, nearly smooth 

 on the surface, but somewhat scabrous at the edge, those of the 

 barren shoots convolute, the ligule short and rounded at the top; 

 the panicle is large, widely spreading, the lower branches verti- 

 cillate, the uppermost solitary, slightly rough, 



Poa No. 2. Chicla ! Culms little more than a foot in height ; 

 the leaves all nearly flat, more scabrous than the last ; the panicle 

 contracted, with short smooth branches of nearly equal length, i 



Poa No- 3, Chicla ! Somewhat larger than the last, with the 

 branches of the panicle scabrous. Probably a variety of the 

 same species, 



Poa No. 4. Chicla ! This approaches our No. 1 in the form 

 of the panicle, but on a much smaller scale, and with the branches 

 decidedly scabrous. The ligule is oblong and truncate at the top. 



