232 



I 



AsRumiiipf that the forco-olno- views respecting the nature of 



o 



fc. 



fc> 



the sctc-e at the base of the snigle spikclct or pair of spikelets, to 



JiapJiis, placed among those regard- 



ed as doubtful by Bentham (Gen. Tl. iii. p. 1090) and founded 

 upon a single Mexican species which has been completely lost to 

 recent botanists, may be characterized as follows : 

 riCNTARRTTAl'llis IIBK. Nov. Gen. et Spec. i. p. 177, t. 60. 

 {Polyschistis Presl, Rel. Haenk. i. 294, t. 41). 



Tribe Chlorideae. 

 Spikelets one to two In each fascicle-like spike, accompanied 

 one to four shorter, awn-like rudiments, two-flowered, the 



first flower 9 , the second 2 or ^ ; rhachilla produced into a 

 short simple bristle behind the palea of the second floret. Empty 

 glumes two, one-nerved, the first very narrow, awn-like when 

 dry, the second somewhat longer, lanceolate, usually two-toothed, 

 awncd between the teeth ; flowering glumes five or seven-toothed, 

 the middle and marginal teeth extending into a long, divergent, 

 scabrous awn. Talea strongly two-nerved, two-toothed or 

 sometimes briefly two-awned. Stamens three; styles distinct. 

 Stigmas projecting from the sides of the florets, penicilliform. 

 Lodicules two, dolabriform. Grain oblong, free. Low. slender, 

 tufted grasses with erect, simple or branched flowering culms and 

 narrow flat leaves. Spikes very short, secund and rather remote 



arcuate rhachis, articulated 

 with the very short pedicels and falling off entire. 



The disposition and appearance of the clusters of spikelets 

 and also their deciduous character are the same as In .^.gopogon ; 

 their external resemblance to Melanocenchris. with which 



along the flcxuose and sometimes 



;h which this 

 genus is very closely allied, is even more marked. Tn the first, 

 however, the separate spikelets are one flowered and pedicellate 

 in the clusters ; in the second, the spikelets are one-flowered, 

 above v/hich the rhachilla bears several empty bracts similar to 

 the flowering glume. From Boutcloua, section Triathcra, Peu- 



two-flowered 

 spikelets and simple, bristle-like prolongation of the rhachilla. 

 Species three, two certainly and probably also the third, Mex- 

 ican. 



P. FOURNIERANA, Hack, and Scribn. Culms densely crowded 



tarrhaphis may readily be distinguished by its 



/ 



