530 GRAM1NE.E. 



Sect. 1. Phragmites, Tr.— Glumes setaceous-acuminate, except the two lowest shorter 

 ones : powers hermaphrodite or the lowest $ . Wool coveting the internodes of the 

 rhachis. 



9. A. occidentalism Sieb. ! Tall, herbaceous; leaves linear-acuminate, slightly sca- 

 brous at the margin : ligular border shortly and equally ciliate ; panicle large, pale-rusty ; 

 spikelets 3-6-flowered ; 2 lowest glumes unequal, bluutish, minutely 3-dentate ; lowest 

 flower monaudrous : its glume equalling the wool, more than twice as long as the inferior 

 sterile glume, or little exceeded by the hermaphrodite flowers. — Si. t. 67.— Phragmites mar- 

 tinicensis, Trin. Remirea diffusa, Sieb. Mart. 31 ! — Habit of A. altissima, Benth. (Phr. 

 gigantea, Gay), but leaves narrower, 5" -8"' broad at the base, and ligule not unequally fim- 

 briate; structure of A. Phragmites, L., but 2 lowest glumes less pointed, wool a little 

 shorter, <? flower 1-androus. Stem 10'-20' high, panicle 2', spikelets 6"'-8"' long.— Hab. 

 Jamaica !, Pd., Wils., in wet places, along rivers ; Trinidad ! ; [French islands ! ; Mexico ! 

 to Brazil !]. 



Sect. 2. Gynerium, Kth. — Glumes awnless, acuminate, delicate : flowers dioecious. Wool 

 covering the lower part of the flowering glumes. 



10. A. saccharoides, Gr. Tall, arborescent ; leaves lanceolate-acuminate, serrulate- 

 scabrous at the margin ; panicle large, very woolly, one-sided ; spikelets 2-flowered ; glumes 

 in <J " lanceolate," in ? narrowly linear-acuminate, the 2 lowest unequal, the longest equalling 

 the wool; (J flowers " 2-androus." — Humb. PI. Equin. t. 115. — Gynerium, Humb. — Stem 

 12'-16'high, "2"-3" thick at the base" (SI.); leaves 3'-4' long, 2" broad; panicle 2', 

 spikelets and spreading wool 4'" long. — Hab. Jamaica!, lUacfl, in wet places; Antigua!, 

 Wullschl.; Trinidad, Gr.; [Cuba! and Mexico! to Brazil!]. 



Sect. 3. Donax, P. B. — Fertile glumes 2-dentate, awned between the teeth, 2 sterile sub- 

 equal: flowers hermaphrodite. 

 11*. A. Donax, L. Tall, arborescent; leaves lanceolate-acuminate, glabrous at the 

 margin ; panicle large, rusty-tawny ; spikelets $-2-flowered, included within the 2 sterile 

 glumes ; fertile glumes shortly awned, woolly below : awn erect, twice as long as the teeth ; 

 internodes of the rhachis woolly only at the summit. — Reichenb. Ic. Germ. f. 1731. — Stem 

 10'-20' hijrh ; leaves l"-li" broad at the base : sheath often black at the summit. — Hab. 

 Jamaica !, March, Antigua !, Wullschl., probably introduced ; [Southern Europe ! to tropical 

 Asia!]. 



8. PLATON1A, Kth. 



Spikelets 1-flowered : glumes coriaceous, 4 inferior -sterHe, devoid of a palea. Palm con- 

 vex, emarginate, coriaceous : its 2 nerves obsolete, " little distant." Lodicula 3. — Stout, 

 herbaceous grasses; leaves confined to the lower part of the stem : ligule produced ; panicle 

 virgate, somewhat contracted .- spikelets ovate, numerous along its short branches. 



This genus, less related to Chusquea than to TJniola (and more distantly to Phalaris), is 

 placed here on the authority of Kuntb's figure of the stigmas, which apparently resemble 

 those of Arundo. 



12. P. virgata, Gr. (n. sp.) Leaves lanceolate, shortly acuminate, scabrous at the 

 margin, exceeded by the stem ; panicle dense, rigid : axis and branches sulcate, densely pu- 

 bescent ; spikelets shining-glabrous, ofteu longer thau their pedicel ; glumes convex, mucro- 

 nate, the 2 lowest lanceolate, the 2 upper sterile ones twice as long, ovate-lanceolate, the 

 fertile ovate-ohlonst, little exceeding the palea. — Stem 6' high, cylindrical, glabrous, 2 

 diam. ; leaves 2V-2' long, 2" broad above the middle, long-tapering at the base: sheath 

 striate, glabrous: ligule ovate, blunt; panicle 1' long, about 1" diam. ; branches thickish, 

 spreading-erect, approximate, not whorled ; spikelets tawny, laterally compressed, 25'" long, 

 3 upper glumes 1 V" long, spreading.— Hab. Trinidad !, Cr., at Tocuche. 



9. ORTHOCIADA, P. B. 



Spikelets 2-1 -flowered: glumes herbaceous, 2 inferior sterile. Palea compressed, herba- 

 ceous, membranaceous at the margin-, its 2 nerves approximate along the dorsal keel. 



