above quoted, to which we must refer our readers. The plant 
is a native of Bahia, in Brazil, and has heen introduced to the 
Jardin des Plantes at Paris, whence our living plants have been 
received through the kindness of Professor Decaisne. 
Dzscr. Apparently perennial. Cu/ms short, erect, leafy, 
chiefly towards the base, with four to six broad leaves, which 
are four to five inches long, one to two inches broad, cordato- 
lanceolate, striated, petiolate; petiole one to two inches long, 
slender, grooved in front, terminating a long, lax, truncated 
sheath, three to four inches long; /igule short, obtuse, ciliated. 
Spikes racemose, one or two, terminal on the culm, at first, ac- 
cording to Brongniart, scorpioid, then erect. Flowers sub- 
tended by long, almost leafy, conduplicate, lanceolate dracés, the 
outermost one terminating in a leaf. Spikelets, two to three in 
each bract, with a few dracteoles at their base. Corolla of two 
valves (palee): the inferior larger, green; superior one nearly 
white, firm, and crustaceous, terminated by a long, linear, 
grooved appendage. Squamule none; but there is a ciliated 
ring or disk, within which are the stamens and pistil. Stamens 
four, uniformly disposed. Filaments very much extended, slen- 
der. Anthers lear, drooping, yellow, oblong-sagittate. Style 
very long, slender, longer than the valves of the corolla, gra- 
dually passing into the subulate papillose stigma. 
Fig. 1. Two spikelets, removed from the Jarge outer bract. 2. Inner crusta- 
ceous valve of the corolla, enclosing the stamens and pistil. 3. Pistil:—more 
or less magnified. 
