GRAMINEJE. • 533 



shorter, minutely ciliate. — Poa, Ell. — Several feet high; panicles 6"-l 2" long, about 1" 

 (liaiii.: spikelets numberless; flowers \'" long: marginal nerves disappearing about the 

 middle. — Hab. Trinidad!, Or. ,• [Southern United States to Brazil!] 



Division II. AGROSTIDEM. — Spikelets \-flowered : fertile glumes not indurated, 

 mostly membranaceous, 2 sterile. Stigmas projecting laterally from the flower. Embryo 

 minute. 



13. SPOROBOLUS, R. Br. 



Spikelets awnless : flower contiguous to the sterile glumes, glabrous at the base. Peri- 

 carp membranaceous (rarely coriaceous), seceding from the laterally compressed seed. — 

 Ligular border usually ciliate ; spikelets paniculate. 



Vilfa, P. B., is, as Kunth has correctly observed, no distinct genus. In a Peru specimen 

 of S. pungens {Vilfa luxurians, Steud. !), there is no difference in the pericarp, but that the 

 naked, compressed, oval seed rests longer attached in the bottom of the flower. 



* Stem perennial, stoloniferous, often decumbent. 



25. S. virginicus, Klh. Perennial, branched ; leaves short, spreading, distichous, 

 convolute, filiform-acuminate, devoid of asperities : sheath sterile, terete, little hairy or gla- 

 brate at the top and ligular border ; panicle narrow, short ; sterile glumes usually unequal, 

 the longer as long as the acute flower. — Trin. Ic. t. 48. — Agrostis, L. Vilfa, P. B. — 

 Stolons leafy : flowering branches ascending; spikelets 1"'-1$'" long.— Hab. Jamaica !, Pd., 

 on the sandy seashore ; Antigua!, Wtdlschl. ; Triuidad !, Sieb., Cr., in mangrove-swamps ; 

 [United States ! to Brazil !, Pacific islands ! to Australia ! ; trop. Africa to Madagascar ! 

 and the Cape !]. 



26. S. litoralis, Kth. Perennial ; leaves long, involute, linear-setaceous, scabrous at 

 the margin : sheath terete, villous-bearded at the top and ligular border ; panicle narrow, 

 enclosed at the base by the uppermost leaf; glumes acuminate, the sterile shorter than the 

 flower. — Vilfa, P. B. V. aspcra, P. B. — Stem 1-4', inferior leaves 6"-10", spikelets 

 2"' long. — Hab. Trinidad !, Long, in rocky places ; [Southern Canada ! to South America ; 

 trop. Africa]. 



** Stem slender, erect; root fibrous. 



27- S. domingensis, Kth. Stem erect, compressed at the base; leaves linear-acuminate, 

 flat : sheath condup/icate-compressed, long-ciliate above and at the ligular border ; panicle 

 spreading-erect, at length contracted ; glumes acuminate, the upper sterile equalling the 

 flower, the lower half as long. — Trin. Ic. t. 24 : but palea pointed in our specimens. — 

 Vilfa, Tr. — Spikelets about V" long. — Hab. Jamaica !, At., March; [Haiti !]. 



28. S. purpurascens, Hamilt. Stem slender, ca;spitose, cylindrical ; leaves narrowly 

 linear, usually involute: sheath terete, striate, glabrescent : ligular border shortly ciliate; 

 panicle spreading-erect, at length contracted ; glumes acuminate, the upper sterile equalling 

 the flower, the lower half as long ; seeds oval, rouuded on the back. — Trin. Ic. t. 57. — 

 Agrostis, Sw. Vilfa juucea, Tr. {ex parte). — Spikelets about 1'" long. — Hab. Jamaica !, 

 Sw., March, in arid satvannahs ; Antigua!, Wullschl. ; [Mexico to Brazil !]. 



29. S. indicus, R. Br. Erect ; leaves linear-acuminate : sheaths minutely ciliate 

 above (or glabrate), lower conduplicate-subcompressed ; panicle contracted, long; flower 

 acuminate, 2-4 times as long as the unequal, sterile glumes; seeds oval, flatfish on tie 

 back. — Si. t. 73./. 1. Trin. Ic. t. 60. — Agrostis, I., Sw. S. tenuissimus, P. B. (A.rostis, 

 Jacq.) : the form with convolute leaves and glabrate sheaths. S. elougatus, R. Br. -. .• form 

 with the lowest pauicle-branches distant. — Panicle l'-3", spikelets f"-l'" long.— Hab. 

 Jamaica !, Macfl, Pd., along roadsides ; Antigua !, Wullschl. ; [Bermudas ! and Florida ! to 

 Valdivia! ; Galapagos ! to Australia !, China! to East Indies !]. 



30. S. Jacquemontii, Kth. Stems erect, csespitose, cylindrical ; leaves narrowly 

 linear, convolute : sheath terete, striate, minutely ciliate above ; panicle spreading-erect, at 

 length contracted : flower acuminate, 3-4 times as long as the unequal striate ofi/mes ; 

 seeds oval, flattish on the back. — Kth. Rev.t. 127. — Allied to the preceding, spikelets aa 

 long. — Hab. Jamaica !, Al., March, Wils., a pasture grass ; [Haiti, French islands !]. 



