22G 



y. straniinea. Culmo striate, angusto, pedali, straminco, gla- 

 bro, nodis nigrcscentibus, mcrithalliis i-foliolatis ; liguHs lacinia- 





tus pilosis, foliis linearibus, acutis, brcvibus, pungentibus; spicis 

 femineis i-2, tcrminalibus cylindricis acutis ; spiculis I-3, altcr- 

 nis in rhachidc immcrsis ; gluma exteriore ab axe fissura tantum 

 in parte superior discreta, interior liyaliiia ; caryopsis immatura, 

 in stylum attoiuata^ stigmatibus 2, plumosa, cnicrgentibus. — In 

 arena littoralis mcris Pacifici, San Augustin (Lchni.). 



Fournicr saw only the pistillate plant and the specimens from 

 which his description was drawn were evidently young, for he says : 

 "caryopsis immatura.'* The specimens collected by Dr. Palmer 

 are all very old and this difference in the state of the plants may 

 account for some of the differences in the characters between our 

 specimens and those described by Fournier. The points of disa- 

 greement in tlie above quoted description are in italics. 



In our plants the outer glume in the $ spikelet ts grown to 

 the rhachis for four-fifths or five-sixths of its length. If it is un- 

 derstood that **in parte inferiore adnat^e/* can only mean '* ad- 

 nate for half their length " or ** their lower half adnate/' we have 

 a character not applicable to our plant; but does the expression 

 demand a rendering which limits so definitely the extent of adna- 

 tion ? It is possible that In young plants the glumes are 

 not so completely grown to the rhachis as in those which are 



mature. 



In Palmer's specimens the limits of the adnate, cartilaginous 



outer glume are clearly visible in a transverse section of the spike 

 made near the base of the spikelet and the cellular structure 

 seems to indicate that it is seven-nerved. On the inner face and 

 continuing entirely around the grain-cavity are several layers of 

 dense sclcrenchyma cells, Tliose cells which line the back of the 

 cavity may belong to the '* hyaline inner glume," but this glume 

 cannot be distinguished excepting at the free apex, where it is 

 grown by its edges to the outer glume, thus forming a short tube 

 through which the rather stout style projects (fig. n, pi. CVI.) 



I have been unable to find any traces of a flowering glume or 

 palca. Fournier found both these organs, and although he men- 

 tions their shape and size, he says nothing of their texture. If 

 they were very thin and hyaline, it is possible that they may have 



