318 CONTKIBUTIOlSrS FROM THE NATIONAL HEKBAEIUM. 



49. Paspalum reptatum sp. nov. 



Perennial, cespitose ; culms compressed, creeping, as much as 1 meter long, 

 rooting at the nodes, bearing erect or ascending leafy, often fascicled branches, 

 10 to 30 cm. long ; sheaths compressed, the lower mostly velvety-pubescent, the 

 upper usually glabrous except for a puberulent band at the summit, this some- 

 times wanting, commonly loose and separating from the culm; ligule minute, 

 membranaceous ; blades flat, spreading, 3 to 10 cm. long, 2 to 5 mm. wide, rounded 

 at the base, velvety-pubescent to glabrous ; racemes 2 or 3, commonly overtopped 

 by the upper leaf, 5 to 10 mm. apart on a slender flattened glabrous axis, diver- 

 gent or somewhat reflexed, 1 to 3.5 cm. long ; rachis pubescent at the naked base, 

 otherwise glabrous, the midnerve raised into a prominent ridge between the 

 two rows of spikelets; spikelets solitary, not imbricate, yellowish green, 

 blotched with brown, pubescent, 1.5 to 1.7 mm. long, 1.2 mm. wide, obovate, 

 blunt, the glumes and sterile lemma equal ; fruit stramineous, very minutely 

 roughened. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 865563, collected in wet ground In 

 savannas west of Manacas, Province of Santa Clara, Cuba, by Brother Le6n 

 and F. R. Cazanas, December 28, 1915 (no. 5850). Known only from the type 

 collection. 



This species is most nearly related to Paspalum orhiculatum, from which it is 

 distinguished by its larger pubescent spikelets, as well as by its larger size, 

 more or less pubescent foliage, and longer narrower blades. 



50. Paspalum conjugatum Bergius, Act. Helv. Phys. Math. 7: 129. 1762. 



An extensively creeping perennial with compressed culms, the suberect flower- 

 ing branches sometimes 1 meter tall ; blades flat, rather thin, up to 20 cm. 

 long, commonly about 8 mm. wide; racemes a pair (rarely a third below), 

 widely divaricate, usually arcuate, slender, commonly 10 to 12 cm. long, the 

 pale yellow flattened imbricate spikelets about 1.5 mm. long, with scant long 

 silky hairs around the margin. 



Moist ground. Gulf States to South America; Tropics and Subtropics 

 of both hemispheres ; throughout the West Indies ; one of the commonest 

 grasses of moist savannas and ditch banks, forming extensive and close mats. 

 Originally described from Dutch Guiana. This species is said by C. F. Baker 

 and by P&re Duss to be an excellent forage grass. Maza and Roig * state that 

 it is eaten by cattle only when they are driven to it by hunger. The common 

 name " sour-grass," given to this species by Grisebach. would indicate that it 

 was unpalatable. In Cuba it is called " cauamazo " and " canamazo hembro." 



.50a. Paspalum conjugatum pubescens Doell in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2* : 55. 1877. 



On the average coarser than the preceding, the blades somewhat firmer, 

 pubescent; spikelets 2 mm. long, the silky hairs more copious. 



Moist savannas and banks, South America. In the West Indies found in 

 Grenada only (Broadway in 1904). Originally described from Brazil. 



Paspalum dilatatum Poir. In the herbarium of the New York Botanical 

 Garden there is a specimen of this species from " lawn, Agr. Sta.," Bermuda 

 {Brown, Britton & Bisset 2005). This is a tall grass with flat ovate ciliate 

 spikelets, often cultivated in the Subtropics under the name of " water-grass." 



51. Paspalam fasciculatum Willd. in Fliigge, Monogr. Pasp. 69. 1810. 



A large, extensively creeping perennial, the compressed culms as much as 

 1 cm. wide and several meters long, the bases forming a tangled mass, the 

 erect flowering culms 1 to 2 meters tall; sheaths densely silky-ciliate, at least 



Est. Exp. Agron. Bol. 22: 57. 1914. 



