88 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGES. 



ceqiiabilis, which we should rank at the highest as a variety of the same species as Carex 

 prwalta. Burchell distinguished them as follows : — " Carex elata— Culmi graciles, 4-6 

 pedal es, spiculis quibusdam fcemineis ad apices masculis ; moncecia, superiores mere 

 masculi ; iuferiores feminei. Carex longifolia — Culmi foliis breviores, spicis masculis ad 

 apices fceniineis ; moncecia, inferiores mere fceminei." 



GEA3IINE^E. 



Of this order the indigenous element in St Helena seems to have been exceedingly 

 small, consisting probably of only three or four species described below ; but many widely 

 spread grasses were common there at the beginning of the present century, and are now found 

 all over the island. Some of these doubtless were purposely introduced, others accidentally, 

 while a few may have reached the island quite independently of human agency. Among 

 the commoner species are: — Paspalwm scrobiculatum, Linn. ; Panicum colonum, Linn.; 

 Panicum crus-galli, Linn.; Panicum sanguinale, Linn.; Eriochloa annulata, Kunth; 

 Setaria verticillata and Setaria glauca, Beauv. ; Gymnothrix caudata, Schrad. ; Coix 

 lachryma, Linn.; Phalaris canariensis, Linn.; Stenotaphrum americanum, Schrank; 

 Anthoxanth urn odoratwm, Linn. ; Polypogon littoralis, Sm. ; Polypogon mompeliensis, Desf. ; 

 Cynodon dactylon, 1 Pers.; Dactyloctenium cegyptiacum, Willd.; Eleusine indica, Gasrtn.; 

 I-'. rug rust is poivoides, Beauv.; Triodia decumbens, Beauv.; Poa annua, Linn.; Festuca 

 myurus, Linn.; Festuca bromoides, Sm. ; Bromus vestitus, Schrad., &c. Almost everyone 

 of the foregoing grasses is now very widely spread, and in many cases it is impossible to 

 determine where they are really indigenous. 



Alopecurus paniculatus, Eoxb., in Beatson's St Helena Tracts, p. 296, without a 

 description, remains undetermined. 



Ehrharta urvilleana, Kunth, Enum.,i. p. 14 ; Duperr., Voy. "Coquille," Bot. Phaner., 

 p. 147, t. 24, published as indigenous in St Helena, is the same as Ehrharta longiflora, 

 Sm., a South African species, and must be regarded as an introduced plant. 



Eleusine calycina, Roxb., 1. c, p. 308, without description, is unknown to us. 

 "Agrostis purpurascens, Willd.," Roxb. in Beatson's St Helena Tracts, p. 296, is clearly 

 Sporobolus im/iciis, R. Br. (including Sporobolus elongatus, R. Br.), and not an Agrostis, 

 for Roxburgh's imperfect description exactly agrees, as far as it goes, with the characters of 

 the Sporobolus. This grass is one of the more widely dispersed kinds, being extremely 

 common all over Tropical and Subtropical Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, and 



1 According to Melliss, this is perhaps the most abundant grass in the island, "and doubtless indigenous," 



tlin contradicting what he himself says (and %vc have reproduced elsewhere) in his introduction to the botanical 



f his work. It is now almost ubiquitous in warm countries, and we regard it as an introduced plant in St 



Helena. Roxburgh (under Panicum <i<><-tijl<<n, Linn. ) says " Wire-grass" is the vernacular name, and it is supposed 



to be a native of the island ; yet ho leaves the question open. 



