999 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
Lower panicle branches in a whorl; spikelets sparsely villous, the hairs 
shorter than the spikelet _ : 3. V. laxa. 
1. Valota eggersii (Hack.). 
Panicum egyersii Hack. Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 51: 292. 1901. 
A slender branching perennial, decumbent at base, with small flat puberulent 
blades and panicles of 2 or 8 erect racemes 2 to 5 cm. long. 
Only known from the island of St. Thomas, the type specimen being Hggers 295. 
2. Valota insularis (L.) Chase, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 19: 188. 1906. 
Andropogon insularis L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 1304. 1759. 
Panicum lanatum Rottb, Act. Lit. Univ. Hafn. 1: 269, 1778. 
Milium villosum Swartz, Prodr. Veg, Ind. Oce. 24. 1788. 
Panicum leucophaeum H, B, K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 97. 1816. 
Panicum insulare Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. 60. 1818, 
Trichachne insularis Nees, Agrost. Bras. 86. 1829. 
Saccharum polystachyum Sieb.; Kunth, Enum. Pl. 1: 124, 1833. 
Panicum saccharoides A, Rich. in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 306. 1850, 
Panicum falsum Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 67. 1854. 
Panicum duchaissingii Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 93. 1854. 
Tricholaena insularis Griseb, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 557. 1864. 
Digitaria leucophaea Stapf in Thiselt. Dyer, Fl. Cap. 7: 382. 1898. 
Syntherisma insularis Millsp. & Chase, Field Mus. Bot. 1: 473, 1902. 
Digitaria insularis Mez; Ekman, Ark. for Bot, 13: 22, 1913. 
A rather coarse tufted weedy perennial, with sparsely hirsute sheaths, flat, 
usually scabrous blades, and silky panicles tawny at maturity. 
Open ground and waste places in the Tropics and Subtropics of America at 
low altitudes, The type locality of Andropogon insularis, of Panicum lanatum, 
and of Milium villosum is Jamaica; of Saccharum polystachyum, Martinique; 
of Panicum saccharoides and P. falsum, Cuba; of P. duchaissingii, the island 
of Guadeloupe. Panicum leucophaeum was described from Venezuela and Co- 
lombia. ‘Thds species is often called “ sour-grass,” a name which is occasionally 
applied to other large unpalatable grasses such as species of Paspalum. In 
Cuba it is one of the grasses called “ barba de indio,” and “ rabo de zorra,” 
To be found in probably all of the West Indian islands. 
3. Valota laxa (Reichenb.). 
Reimaria lara Reichenb.; Spreng. Tent. Suppl. Syst. Veg. 2. 1828. 
Taller than the preceding, decumbent at base, the sheaths tuberculate-hispid, 
the panicle larger, the long slender branches widely spreading at maturity. The 
stiff hairs of the sheaths break off in handling and penetrate the skin. 
Open moist ground, southern West Indies to Paraguay. Originally described 
from Surinam [Dutch Guiana]. 
Grenada, Trinidad, and Tobago. 
28. SYNTHERISMA Walt. 
Spikelets in 2’s or 3’s, short-pedicellate in two rows along one side of a narrow 
rachis, the slender racemes digitate or subdigitate; spikelets lanceolate or 
elliptic; first glume minute or obsolete; fruit acute, the hyaline margins of the 
lemma narrow. 
Rachis narrowly winged on the margins, appearing flat or flattened-triangular. 
Pedicels with a ring of stiff hairs at the summit; spikelets with stripes of 
dense gland-tipped hairs______________________ 7. S. argyrostachya, 
Pedicels naked, 
