HITCHCOCK AND CHASE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 315 



In small tufts, glabrous as a whole, the slender culms often 1 meter tall, 

 ascending, simple, the long rather stift blades folded or involute toward the 

 apex, scabrous on the margin, and with a few long white hairs above the 

 ligule ; racemes few to several, rather distant, 5 to 10 cm. long, mostly arcuate- 

 divaricate, the crowded spikelets 1.8 to 2 mm. long, obovate-oval, pubescent, 

 or rarely glabrous. 



Mostly in partially shaded limestone soil, Florida and the West Indies. 

 Poiret's description is insufficient for identification, but Mr. Nash, who has 

 examined the specimen, notes, comparing it with Heller 10, the type of P. hel- 

 leri, that the " type of P. glabrum Poir. is a more slender plant with smaller 

 glabrous spikelets." This, the typical but less common form, is represented by 

 Britton & Brace 404, from the Bahamas, and by Chase 6408, 6423, 6618, from 

 Porto Rico. It differs only in having glabrous spikelets. In Heller 10 the spike- 

 lets are 2 mm. long, but in many specimens having pubescent spikelets the 

 spikelets are but 1.8 mm. long, as in the plants with glabrous spikelets just 

 mentioned, while in Chase 6499, from Porto Rico, the glabrous spikelets are 

 2 mm. long. In Hitchcock 9674, from Jamaica, the spikelets are 2 mm. long, 

 most of them wholly glabrous, but a few pubescent on the convex side as in 

 the type of P. helleri. No other character can be found to differentiate the 

 specimens with pubescent from those with glabrous spikelets. The type speci- 

 mens of all the names given are from Porto Rico. 



Bahamas (New Providence, Nassau, Andros, Fortune Island, and Inagua), 

 Cuba, Santo Domingo, Jamaica (Montego Bay), Porto Rico (common through- 

 out, a characteristic plant of cocoanut groves), St. Thomas, St. Croix, Anagada, 

 Tortola, St. Jan, Dominica, Martinique, Grenada, and Barbados. 



36. Paspalum bakeri Hack. Inf. Est. Centr. Agron. Cuba 1: 410. 1906. 



A glabrous tufted perennial, the flattened culms widely spreading, 20 to 45 

 cm. long, finally branching, the stiff divergent, rather short blades involute- 

 pointed ; racemes 2 or 3, suberect, 2 to 6 cm. long, 1 to 1.5 cm. distant, the pale 

 glabrous spikelets in pairs, narrowly obovate, 2 mm. long. 



Near the seashore, Province of Habana, Cuba, whence described (Baker 1824 

 being the type), and Isle of Pines. 



37. Paspalum rigidif olium Nash, Bull, N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1 : 292. 1899. 

 Perennial, the slender culms stiffly erect, the linear glabrous blades mostly 



aggregated toward the base, a prominent tuft of hairs borne just above the 

 ligule. 



Sandy open woods and savannas, Florida to Mississippi and in the Province 

 of Pinar del Rio (Chirigote), Cuba. Originally described from Florida. 



8& Paspalum propinquum Nash, Bull. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1 : 291. 1899. 



Tufted, the slender culms spreading or ascending, the flat thin but firm blades 

 usually 5 to 6 mm. wide, strongly ciliate, otherwise glabrous or nearly so ; 

 lacemes 1 or, on the terminal peduncle, sometimes 2, the pale, minutely pubescent 

 or glabrous spikelets about 1.8 mm. long. 



Open ground, fields and pastures, southeastern United States arid the West 

 Indies. Originally described from Florida. Grisebach ^ refers this species to 

 P. setaceum Michx. 



Bermuda, Cuba (Habana), Jamaica, and Porto Rico. 



39. Paspalum ciliatif olium Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 44. 1803. 



Closely related to the preceding, the blades more lax, commonly wider. 



* Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 542. 1864. 



