HITCHCOCK AND CHASE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 389 



at the throat ; ligule membranaceous, ciliate, 0.3 mm. long ; blades glabrous or 

 sparsely pilose, drying involute, attenuate-acuminate, 3 to 8 cm. long, 1 to 2 

 cm. wide ; panicles oblong, rather loosely flowered, mostly 10 to 15 cm. long, 

 the branches stiffly ascending, rather distant, single, spikelet-bearing from 

 above the base, the lower 2 to 4 cm. long; axis and branches scabrous, the 

 turgid pulvini pilose ; spikelets tawny, linear, 3 to 4 mm. long, 6 to 10-flowered, 

 the rachilla breaking up between the florets ; glumes acute or subacute, scabrous 

 on the keels, the first 1 mm. long, the second slightly longer ; lemmas oblong, 

 obtuse, minutely roughened, 1.3 mm. long, prominently 3-nerved, the lateral 

 nerves two-thirds the distance from keel to margin ; palea as long as the lemma, 

 deciduous with it, ciliate on the keels, the cilia less than half as long as the 

 width of the lemma. 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 865555, collected in thickets near 

 railroad, at Zaza de Tunas, Province of Santa Clara, Cuba, August 25, 1909, 

 by Brother Leon (no. 885). The only other specimen s-aen is Britton 2374, 

 collected in palm barrens at Camaguey, Cuba. 



This is the only perennial species we know having a ciliate palea. 



4. Erag-rostis hypnoides (Lam.) B. S. P. Prel. Cat. N. Y. 69. 1888. 

 Poa hypnoides Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1: 185. 1791. 



Poa reptans Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1 : 69. 1803. 



Eragrostis reptans Nees, Agrost. Bras. 514. 1829. 



Stoloniferous, forming mats, the flowering culms mostly 5 to 10 cm. tall ; 

 blades 1.5 to 2 cm. long, spreading ; panicles small, more or less capitate, the 

 pale, many-flowered spikelets commonly 1 cm. long. 



Moist, open ground along streams throughout the United States and south- 

 ward to Brazil. Originally described from tropical America, Poa reptans was 

 described from Illinois. 



Cuba, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, and Trinidad. 



5. Eragrostis pilosa (L.) Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 162. 1812. 

 Poa pilosa L. Sp. PI. 68. 1753. 



A tufted weedy annual, pilose at the summit of the sheaths and in the 

 axils of the lower panicle branches, otherwise glabrous ; culms ascending, 

 mostly 20 to 30 cm. tall ; panicles oblong, loosely many-flowered, commonly 

 about one-third the entire height of the plant ; spikelets about 4 mm. long. 



Open grounds, fields, and waste places, warm and temperate regions of both 

 hemispheres. Originally described from Italy. The West Indian specimens 

 referred to this species are the form with more delicate, slender, flexuous 

 panicle branches, apparently commoner in Asia and Africa than in Europe. 

 Nash ^ doubtfully refers these specimens to Eragrostis pursJiii Schrad. 



Cuba, Jamaica, Porto Rico (Bayamon), St. Croix, Guadeloupe, Dominica, 

 Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, Barbados, and Tobago. 



6. Eragrostis tephrosauthos Schult. Mant. 2: 316. 1824. 



Eragrostis delicatula Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 2': 73. 1836. 



In habit like the preceding, the culms usually lower, the panicles broader, 

 often half the entire height of the plant. 



Open ground, fields, and waste places, "West Indies to Brazil. Originally 

 described from Martinique. Eragrostis delicatula was described from Rio de 

 Janeiro. Common in the Greater Antilles and Trinidad ; less common in the 

 Lesser Antilles. In Cuba called " ilusion." 



Grisebach ^ refers this species to E. poaeoides Beauv. 



*Bull. Torrey Club 30: 388. 1903. *F1. Brit. W. Ind. 532. 1864. 



