FIELD COLUMBIAN MUSEUM BOTANY, VOL. III. 



CD 



or ascending, 2-8 cm. long, axis and rachis hispidulous. Spikelets 



i X4- 3 mm., green, ovate-lanceolate, acute, in pairs, one subsessile, 



the other on a hispidulous pedicel about 

 as long as itself. First glume ^ the 

 length of the spikelet, strongly 3-nerved, 

 scabrous toward the summit; second and 

 third equal, strongly 5-nerved, glabrous, 

 the second nearly clasping the third which 

 again clasps the base of the fourth; fruit- 

 ing glumes .8x2.9 mm., pale green, 

 oblong - lanceolate, acute, smooth and 

 shining; floral glume auricled at the base, 

 the enclosed palea somewhat gibbous 

 between the auricles. Grain greenish 

 white, ellipsoid, .6x1.6 mm.; in section 

 depressed plano-convex. 

 Hab. Common in old fields, Izamal, 2 feet high, Sept., Gaunter 



854, " Common in forests of Buena Vista Xbac," Sept., mi, Chich- 



ankanab 2181. 



Called X-KAN-CHIM, " yellow capsule," by the Mayas. 



OPLISMENUS Beauv. Fl. d'Owar. 2:14. 



Spikelets in small clusters, usually unilateral along the branches 

 of the panicle, i-flowered, perfect; rachilla articulated below the 

 empty glumes. Glumes 4, empty glumes membranaceous, awned; 

 fruiting glumes coriaceous, the margins of the glume not inrolled but 

 closely folded about the palea. Grain elliptic, little or not com- 

 pressed, enclosed in the fruiting glumes, free. Stamens 3. 



Awns smooth, grain dorsally compressed hirtellus. 



Awns scabrous, grain terete Burmannii. 



Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) R. & S. Syst. 2:481. 



Panicum hirtellum L. 



Panicle long-exserted, 4-6 cm. long, of 3-5 one-sided few-flow- 

 ered racemes, axis minutely scabrous; 

 racemes spreading, i cm. long or less, 

 spikelets in pairs in 2 rows on one side 

 of the scabrous, angled rachis, 3.5 mm. 

 long (excluding awns), yellowish green. 

 First and second glumes subequal, emar- 

 ginate, pubescent, ciliate, 5-nerved, 

 bearing smooth, stiff awns, that of first 

 glume 8-9 mm., of second 2.5-3 mm.; 

 third glume emarginate, y-nerved, pu- 

 bescent, long-ciliate in the middle and 

 with a few long hairs in the middle of 

 the pubescent keel, awn i mm., smooth; 

 fruiting glumes .8x2.9 mm., pale green, 

 lanceolate, acute, smooth and shining. 

 Grain translucent purplish white, lance- 

 olate-ellipsoid, obtuse, .75x2 mm., in section unequally biconvex. 



o 



