294 CONTRIBUTION'S FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Digitaria marginata Link, Enum. PI. 1: 102. 1821. 



Digitaria fimhriata Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 226. 1827. 



SyntJierisma flmbriata Nasli, Bull. Tori-ey Club 25: 302. 1898. 



Similai" to the preceding, commonly larger and coarser, the blades less pubes- 

 cent, the racemes on the average fewer, the spikelets slightly larger and more 

 closely arranged on the broader rachis. Depauperate specimens may be dis- 

 tinguished by the fewer racemes, larger spikelets, and rachis without scattered 

 long hairs. 



A common weed in cultivated soil and waste places throughout the temperate 

 and tropical regions of beth hemispheres. To be found on all the West Indian 

 islands. An excellent fodder grass. Originally described from America and 

 southern Europe. Digitaria marginata and Digitaria flmbriata are described 

 from Brazil, In Cuba this is one of the species to which the name "pata de 

 gallina " is applied. 



3. Syntherisma ischaemum (Schreb.) Nash, N. Amer. Fl. 17: 151. 1912. 

 Panicum iscliaemum Schreb. ; Schweigger, Spec. Fl. Erlang. 16. 1804. 



A spreading annual weed, resembling crabgrass, but with glabrous, darker 

 green foliage. 



Common in eastern United States; introduced from Europe, whence origi- 

 nally described. Collected in St. Croix (Benzon). 



4. Syntherisma simpsoni (Vasey) Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 297. 1898. 

 Panicum sanguinale var. simpsoni Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 25. 1892. 

 Panicum simpsoni Beal, Grasses N. Amer. 2: 109. 1896. 



More widely creeping than no. 2, with more slender, pale green racemes with 

 a narrower rachis and finely nerved glabrous or nearly glabrous spikelets. 



Sandy soil, Florida and Cuba (Isle of Pines, Curtiss 522). Originally de- 

 scribed from Manatee, Florida. 



5. Syntherisma serotina Walt. Fl. Carol. 76. 1788. 

 Digitaria serotina Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 46. 1803. 



A low creeping pilose annual, forming a dense carpet, the delicate ascending 

 flowering stems 20 to 30 cm. high, with 3 to 5 more or less arcuate racemes. 



Sandy soil. Coastal Plain of the United States from Delaware to Mississippi ; 

 also in western Cuba. Originally described from South Carolina. 



6. Syntherisma longiflora (Retz.) Skeels, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 



261: 30. 1912. 



Paspalum longiflorum Retz. Obs. Bot. 4: 15. 1786. 



Panicum longiflorum Gmel. Syst. Nat. 2: 158. 1791. 



Digitaria longiflora Pers. Syu. PI. 1: 85. 1805. 



A slender tufted erect or ascending annual, leafy below, with flat glabrous 

 blades and 2 to several very slender, usually arcuate racemes of minute pale 

 spikelets obscurely silky in the internerves. 



Fields and open gra.ssy ground, tropical regions of the Old World; intro- 

 duced into the West Indies. Originally described from India. The West Indian 

 species appears to be the same as that described under Digitaria longiflora by 

 Merrill.* 



Bermuda, Jamaica, Porto Rico, and Trinidad. 



7. Syntherisma argyrostachya (Steud.). 



Panicum argyrostachymn Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 40. 1854. 



Similar to S. longiflora, the blades with a few long hairs at base, the spike- 

 lets larger, with stripes of dense silky hairs ; pedicels with a ring of .stiff hairs 

 at the summit. 



* Philippine .Tourn. Sci. C. Bot. Suppl. J: 347. 1906. 



