POACEAE. 15 



6. ANTHEPHOEA Schreb. Besehr. Gras. 2: 105. pi. 44. 1810. 



Tufted grasses, the culms often branched, erect or prostrate, the leaves 

 mostly flat, the 1-flowered spikelets in deciduous clusters of 3 or 4, forming 

 elongated terminal, slender spikes. Empty scales of the spikelets rigid, the 

 first one indurated, large, involucre-like, the others acute or short-awned; upper 

 and inner scales thin, the innermost enclosing a thin palet and a perfect flower, 

 the stamens 3, the styles united at the base, the stigmas plumose. [Greek, 

 flower-bearing.] Five known species, of tropical distribution, the following 

 typical. 



1. Anthephora hermaphrodita (L.) Kuntze, Bev. Gen. PI. 759. 1891. 



Tripsacum hermaphroditum L. Syst. ed. 10, 1261. 1759. 



Annual; culms 3-10 dm. long, rooting and branching at the lower nodes. 

 Leaves flat, 7-20 cm. long, 4-10 mm. wide, glabrous or hirsute, acuminate; 

 spikes 2-12 cm. long, continuous and dense, or interrupted below, about 4 mm. 

 thick, the slender rachis flexuous; clusters of spikelets about 7 mm. long; lower 

 scales ovate to elliptic, acute to acuminate, glabrous or hispidulous. 



South Caicos : West Indies and continental tropical America, commonly in 

 waste and cultivated grounds. Anthephora. 



7. SYNTHEEISMA Walt. PI. Car. 76. 1788. 



Annual grasses, with flat leaves and spikelets borne in pairs or sometimes 

 in 3 's, in secund spikes which are digitate or approximate at the summit of the 

 culm. Spikes often purplish. Scales of the spikelet 4, sometimes 3 by the 

 suppression of the lowest one; the fourth or innermost scale chartaceous, sub- 

 tending a palet of similar texture and a perfect flower. Stamens 3. Stigmas 

 plumose. [Greek, crop-making, in allusion to its abundance.] Species about 

 20, widely distributed in temperate and tropical regions. Type species: Syn- 

 therisma praecox Walt. 



Rachis of the racemes with the angles naked, not winged ; first scale of the spikelet 



usually wanting. 1. S. flliformis. 



Rachis of the racemes with the lateral angles broadly winged, 

 thus making it appear flat ; first scale of the spikelet 

 usually present. 

 Spikelets about 2.5 mm. long, one fifth as wide as long. 



acuminate. 2. S. digitata. 



Spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long, one fourth as wide as long or more, 



acute. 3. S. sanguinalis. 



1. Syntherisma flliformis (L.) Xash, Bull. Torrey Club 22: 420. 1895. 



Panicum filiforme L. Sp. PI. 57. 1753. 

 Milium paniceum Sw. Prod. 24. 1788. 

 Syntherisma paniceum Nash, N. A. Fl. 17: 152. 1912. 



Culms 1.57 dm. tall. Sheaths at least the lower ones hirsute; leaves 3-20 

 cm. long, 1-4 mm. wide; racemes 2-5, 2-10 cm. long, erect or ascending; spike- 

 lets about 1.8 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide, elliptic, acute, in pairs, the first scale 

 wanting, the second 3-nerved, the third 7-nerved, the fourth scale deep chestnut- 

 brown at maturity. 



White-lands, sea-beaches, and roadsides, Andros, New Frovidence. and Oat 

 Island : New Hampshire to Michigan, Florida and Mexico ; Cuba ; Hispaniola ; 

 Jamaica ; Forto Rico. Slender Finger-grass. 



