Tas. 7469. 
OLYRA coNCcINNA, 
Native of Costa Rica. 
Nat. Ord. GramMinE&.—Tribe PanicEz. 
Genus Otyra, Linn.; (Benth. & Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 1110.) 
OLYRA concinna; gramen nanum, dense czespitosum, glaberrimum, culmis 
filiformibus simplicibus decurvis pendulisque foliosis, foliis omnibus 
conformibus confertis distichis parvulis ovatis cuspidato-acuminatis 
inzequilateris basi rotundatis marginibus ciliolatis, costa tenui, nervis 
creberrimis, vaginis lamina multoties brevioribus apice 2-auriculatis, 
auricula altera longius producta, ligula brevi rotundata, spicis axillaribus 
et terminalibus brevibus, rachi filiformi stricta, spiculis 3, fem. 2 
brevissime pedicellatis majusculis altera basi altera apice racheos elongate 
inserta, masc. solitaria minuta basi spice inserta longe pedicellata : spic. 
masc.: gluma solitaria oblonga obtusa 1-nervi, palea glumx zquilo 
binervi, staminibus 3, lodiculis 3 minimis; spic. fem.: glumis 3, I et I 
lanceolatis acuminatis 3-nerviis herbaceis, III paulo breviore breviter 
stipitata obtusiuscula coriacea pallida marginibus involutis, palea glamz 
fere 2quilonga, lodiculis 3 ovato-rotundatis, ovario in stylum elongatum 
capillarem angustato, stigmatibus 2 brevibus. 
O. concinna, Hook. f. 
Olyra is rather a large genus of tropical grasses, all 
except one or two African, being American, It is re- 
markable for the great variety it displays in habit, foliage, 
inflorescence, and sexuality of the spikes, and in the forms 
of the spikelets and their glumes, which has necessitated 
the lengthy description given above. The majority of the 
species are tall, often branched, or even suffruticose plants, 
with broad, flat, coriaceous leaves often petioled on their 
sheaths ; but a few are of the humble growth of O. concinna. 
Amongst the latter I find none described to which O. con- 
cinna could be referred, but there is in the Kew Herbarium 
a flowerless specimen of a species which, if not the same, 
must be very closely allied to it. This last differs in having 
rather longer and narrower leaves, and somewhat hairy leaf- 
sheaths; it was found by Dr. Traill, F.R.S. (now Professor 
of Botany at Aberdeen) in the Rio Jarua, an affluent of 
the Upper Amazons river, in 1874. Of the described 
ecies the nearest in habit and foliage to O. concinna is 
lypodioides, Trin. (Doell in Mart. Fl. Bras. i. 11, 327, 
1896. 
0. 
Arrit 1s 
