388 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Plants rather slender, mostly less than 0.5 meter tall ; 

 blades about 1 mm. wide; panicle open, the 

 spikelets on slender spreading pedicels. 



17, E. purpurascens. 



Plants robust, mostly more than 0.5 meter tall ; blades 

 more than 1 mm. wide ; panicle open or some- 

 what condensed 18. E. prolifera. 



1. Eragrostis amabilis (L.) Wight & Arn. ; Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beecliey Voy. 



251. 1841. 



Poa amaMlis L. Sp. PI. 68. 1753. 



Poa plumosa Retz. Obs. Bot. 4: 20. 1786. 



Eragrostis plumosa Link, Hort. Berol. 1 : 192. 1827. 



A low tufted branching annual, with slender ascending or spreading culms, 

 linear blades, and handsome oblong panicles, the spikelets mostly borne along 

 the lower side of the ascending branches. 



Open ground and waste places, warmer regions of both hemispheres. A 

 native of the Old World. Originally described from India. Poa plumosa was 

 described from the East Indies. 



Cuba, Jamaica (Hope Gardens), Porto Rico (Pastillo Springs), St. Jan, St. 

 Kitts, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, Trinidad, and 

 Tobago. 



2. Eragrostis ciliaris (L.) Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 192. 1827. 

 Poa ciliaris L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 875. 1759. 



Differs from the preceding in the dense narrow panicles, interrupted below, 

 and in the larger crowded subsessile spikelets. The inflorescence of this species 

 varies from the rather dense cylindrical panicle with short branches flowered 

 to the base (the typical form) to one with stiffly ascending branches naked at 

 base (such as Curtiss 76, Nassau, Bahamas) and to that with a lax panicle 

 (E. ciliaris laxa). A form apparently confined to the Bahamas has a nearly 

 simple panicle with elongate spikelets having (in the most extreme specimen, 

 Wilson 7608, Caicos Islands) as many as 18 florets. This may represent a 

 distinct species, but no other differentiating character appears to be correlated 

 with the long spikelets. Another possibly distinct form is represented by Shafer 

 2751 (Cayo Paredon Grande, Caiuaguey, Cuba), with delicate culms 20 to 30 

 cm. long, blades not over 1 mm. wide, and open, relatively few-flowered panicles. 



Open ground and waste places, warmer regions of both hemispheres. Ap- 

 parently introduced in America, originally described from Jamaica. A com- 

 mon weed around towns. To be found on probably all the W^est Indian islands. 



Ebagrostis ciliaris brachystachya Boiss. Fl. Orient. 5: 582. 1884. E. ara- 

 Uca Jaub. & Spach, Illustr. 4: 31. pi. 322. 1850-53. This variety is common in 

 Curagao and the neighboring islands. The panicles are dense and ovoid. 

 Forms approaching this are sometimes found in the West Indies (Morillos de 

 Cabo Rojo, Porto Rico, Britton, Coioell d Brown 4713). 



2a, Eragrostis ciliaris laxa Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 774. 1891. 



Panicle branches sometimes 3 cm. long, the spikelets scarcely crowded. In 

 the specimens from the Lesser Antilles the cilia on the keels are short. 



Habitat the same as for the species. Apparently confined to the West Indies. 

 Originally described from St. Thomas, Barbados, and Trinidad. 



Cuba, Jamaica, Dominica, and Martinique. 



3. Eragrostis leonina sp. nov. 



Perennial, cespitose; culms wiry, glabrous, erect or somewhat spreading, 20 

 to 60 cm. long, sparingly branching; sheaths glabrous, usually sparsely pilose 



