MR. G, BENTHAM ON GRAMINEZ. 87 
Kunth. Nees describes the palea (upper palea) of the typical 
Anachyris paspalodes or Paspalum malacophyllum as 3-nerved ; 
Fournier says it is l-nerved. The species is very variable as to 
the size of the spikelets, the hairs or sete on the rhachis of the 
spike, &c.; but in ali the specimens I have examined 1 have 
uniformly found the palea normally 2-nerved. 
Opisthion, proposed by Doell as a section of Paspalum, is our 
second subsection of Ewpaspalum. It includes all the typical 
Paspala with two lower empty glumes, and the rhachis of the 
spikes not dilated. The species are numerous and varied, but 
scarcely reducible to distinet groups. 
Pseudoceresia is a subsectional name I should propose for the 
genus Ceresia as understood by Elliott and other North-American 
botanists. In it the rhachis of the spikes is more or less dilated 
and coneave, but green and herbaceous throughout, and the spike- 
lets are small and glabrous or nearly so. The species are few, 
including R. stoloniferum, Bose, P. repens, Berg., and their allies. 
Ceresia is the name we would reserve for our fourth subsection, 
being the genus Ceresia as originally established by Persoon, in 
which the dilated rhachis of the spikes is bordered by a coloured 
or smooth membranous margin, and the half-enclosed spikelets 
are larger than in Psewdoceresia and densely ciliate. Besides 
several Brazilian and other tropical species, it includes the Mexi- 
can P. cymbiforme, Fourn. 
Cabrera, our second section of Paspalum, is limited to the single 
P. aureum, H. B. K. (not of Trinius), forming Lagasca's genus 
Cabrera, in which the direction of the spikelets is nearly that of 
Anastrophus ; ; but instead of being marginal on each side of the 
rhachis, they are deeply embedded i in alternate cavities on each 
side of the midrib, on the outer or lower side of that rhachis. This 
remarkable arrangement is very well described by Lagasca, who 
was a most accurate botanist. His ‘Nova Genera et Species 
Plantarum,’ forming part of the * Elenchus Horti Matritensis,’ is 
a model for the clearness and conciseness of the characters given, 
which are most thoroughly to be depended upon. The work is 
quoted by Nees and by Doell, but evidently at second hand ; had 
they really read it, and had they studied Kunth's good figure and 
description, they could never have given to the P. aureum the 
new name of P. immersum, or have transferred the synonym of 
Cabrera chrysoblepharis, Lag., to the P. exasperatum, Nees, or to 
the supposed distinct P. chrysoblepharis, Doell, both of them at 
