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Britton: Studies of West Indian plants 



Spikelet solitary. 



Spikelet terminal, not subtended by a bract. 



Caudex stout, 2-15 cm. high, densely clothed with 



persistent leaf-bases. 

 Caudex none. 



Leaves elongated; spikelet straw-color. 

 Leaves short; spikelet dark brown. 

 Spikelet apparently lateral, subtended by a bract. 

 Achene smooth. 

 Achene papillose-reticulated. 

 Achene twice as long as thick. 

 Achene scarcely longer than thick. 

 Spikelets (except in depauperate plants) several or nu- 

 merous. 



a. Spikelets in a single capitate cluster. 



Plants leafless or nearly so, or leaves 1-3 cm. long. 

 Spikelets few, 6 mm. long or less. 

 Leaf-blade 6 mm. long or less. 

 Leaf-blade 1-3 cm. long. 

 Spikelets several, 6-20 mm. long. 

 Scales loosely pubescent. 

 Scales glabrous or ciliolate. 

 Leaves about one half as long as the culm. 



b. Spikelets in a simple or compound umbel, or sometimes 



compact or capitate. 

 Spikelets clustered in umbelled heads or spikes, or head 

 sometimes solitary. 

 Culm pilose above. 

 Culm glabrous. 



Scales mucronate by the excurrent midvein. 

 Scales acute, the midvein not excurrent; achene 

 papillose. 

 Spikelets not clustered in the umbels, or somewhat 

 clustered. 

 Achene 0.5 mm. long, gray, densely pitted; scales 



suborbicular. 

 Achene 0.7-1 mm. long, white, transversely undu- 

 late; scales ovate. 



1. 5. paradoxus. 



2. S. leucoslachys. 



3. S. conifera. 



4. 5. floccosus. 



5. 5. porloricensis. 



6. 5. curassavicus. 



7. 5. subaphyllus. 



8. 5. alpestris. 



9. 5. Wilsoni. 



10. 5. Tuerckheimii. 



11. S. fimbriatus. 



12. S. veslitus. 



13. S. junciformis. 



14. 5. anlillanus. 



15. 5. coarctatus. 



16. 5. capillaris. 



I. Stenophyllus paradoxus (Spreng.) Standley, Contr. U. S. 



Nat. Herb. 18: 88. 1916 



Schoenus paradoxus Spreng. Syst. 1: 190. 1825. 

 Bulbostylis paradoxa Linden; Regnell, Cyp. 17. 1900. 



Type locality: Mt. Silla de Cacares, near El Pexual, Venezu- 

 ela. 



Distribution: Isle of Pines, Cuba: continental tropical 

 America. 



