88 NORTH AMERICAN FLORA [VoLuME 17 
spikes 1-2 cm. long, the peduncles hirsute; sessile spikelet about 1 mm. in diameter ; 
pedicellate spikelet about 2 mm. long, sterile, consisting of 2 scales. 
TYPE LOCALITY: East Indies. 
DISTRIBUTION : Georgia and Florida to Arizona and Lower California, and generally through- 
out tropical regions. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Beauv, Fl. Oware 1: p/. 14; Gaertn. Fruct. p1, 175 ; Lam. Tab. Encyc. pl. &39 ; 
Roxb. Pl. Corom. #1. 1/8; Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost.7: 6; 20: f. 10; Beal, Grasses N. Am. 
2: f. 10. 
9. IMPERATA Cirillo, Pl. Rar. Neap. 2: 26. 1792. 
Perennial grasses with long leaf-blades and dense terminal spike-like panicles, which 
are often silvery from the long hairs surrounding the spikelets. Spikelets 1-flowered, 
rarely 2-flowered, in pairs, unequally pedicellate. Scales 4, thin, hyaline, awnless; outer 
2 empty, pilose; third glabrous, empty, or rarely enclosing a palet and staminate flower ; 
fourth scale glabrous, subtending a perfect flower and its 2-nerved palet which is truncate 
and toothed at the apex. Stamensilor 2. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. 
Type species, Lagurus cylindricus Y. 
Stems solid; first scale of the spikelet more than 3-nerved. 
Hairs at the base of the spikelet about twice its length; first scale of the : 
spikelet 4-nerved, the fourth scale wanting; panicle linear-oblong, rather lax. 1. L. brasiliensis, 
Hairs at the base of the spikelet about three times its length ; first scale of-the 
spikelet 4-6-nerved, the fourth scale present ; panicle elongate, linear, very - 
dense. 2. I. Hookeri. 
Stems hollow ; first scale of the spikelet 3-nerved. 3, L. contracta. 
1. Imperata brasiliensis Trin. Mém. Acad. St. Petersb. 
VI. 2: 331. 1832. , 
Saccharum Sapé St. Hil. Voy. Distr. Diam. 1: 368. 1833. 
Imperata Sapé Anderss, Oefv. Sv. Vet.-Akad. Férh. 1855: 159. 1855. 
Syllepis Ruprechttt Fourn. Mex. Pl. Gram. 52. 1881. 
imperata caudaia Chapm. Fl. S. U.S. ed. 2. 668. 1884. Not JZ. caudaia Trin. 1833. 
: Stems up to 8 dm. tall, usually 3-6 dm.; leaf-sheaths smooth and glabrous, the basal 
ones at length becoming fibrous; blades erect, up to 4 dm. long, commonly less than 2 
dm., densely hirsute on the upper surface near the base, long-acuminate, narrowed toward 
the base, less than 1 cm. wide; panicle up to 2 dm. long, dense, 2-3 cm. in diameter, ob- 
tuse, not attenuate at the apex, its branches erect or nearly so; spikelets 3-4.5 mm. long, 
the involucral hairs about twice as long. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Brazil. . : . : 
DISTRIBUTION: Florida, Bahamas, Cuba, Isle of Pines, and continental tropical America. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Mart. FI. Bras. 23: 1.59, 7.1; Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 17: f. 303. 
2. Imperata Hookeri Rupr.; Anderss. Oefv. Sv. Vet.-Akad. 
Forh. 1855: 160. 1855. 
Imperata caudaia Scribn. Bull. Torrey Club 9: 86, 1882. Not J. caudata Trin. 1833. 
Imperata brevifolia Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 26. 1886. 
Stems 5-12 dm. tall; leaf-sheaths smooth and glabrous; blades up to 5 dm. long and 
lem. wide, long-acuminate, narrowed toward the base, hirsute on the upper surface near 
the base; panicle narrow, dense, 1.5-3 dm. long and 2.5 cm. wide, its branches erect, 
crowded; spikelets 3-4 mm. long, about one third as long as the involucral hairs. 
TYPE LOCALITY: Texas. 
DISTRIBUTION: Western Texas to California and Mexico. 
ILLUSTRATIONS: Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost.7: 7.2; 20: 7.5, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 
13: pl. 1; Beal, Grasses N, Am. 2: /.5. 
3. Imperata contracta (H.B.K.) Hitche. Rep. Mo. Bot. 
Gard. 4: 146. 1893. 
Saccharum contractum H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 182. 1816. 
Saccharum dubium H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 183. 1816, 
Saccharum caudatum G. Meyer, Fl. Esseq. 68. 1818. 
Anatherum portoricense Spreng. Syst. 1: 290. 1825. 
