HITCHCOCK AND CHASE GRASSES OP THE WEST INDIES. 393 



from the type specimen collected in 1896 by Picarda (no. 1523) on Mount 

 Furcy, Haiti. 



95. ORTHOCLADA Beauv. 

 



Spikelets articulated below the glumes, 1-flowered with a prolongation of 



the rachilla, or 2-flowered, the florets distant ; glumes and lemmas acuminate. 



1, Orthoclada laxa (Rich.) Beauv.; Nees, Agi-ost. Bras. 522. 1829. 



Aira laxa Rich. Act. Soc. Hist. Nat. Paris 1: 106. 1792. 



Panicum rariflorum Lam. Encycl. 4: 746. 1798. 



Orthoclada rariflora Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 69. pi. IJf. f. 9. 1812. 



A stoloniferous perennial ; flowering culms ascending, leafy, simple, commonly 

 1 meter long ; blades slender-petioled, lanceolate, mostly 12 to 15 cm. long, about 

 2.5 cm. wide; panicle large, as broad as long, the long slender naked branches 

 and capillary branchlets at first erect, finally stiffly divergent, bearing 1 to few 

 spikelets at the extremities. 



Rich woods, southern Mexico to Brazil ; also in Guadeloupe and Trinidad. 

 Originally described from Cayenne. Panicum rariflorum was also described 

 from Cayenne. 



96. STBEPTOGYNE Beauv. 



Spikelets several-flowered, subsessile in a long one-sided raceme; glumes 

 unequal, much shorter than the elongate terete callus-tipped florets ; lemmas 

 firm, tapering into a slender awn ; palea about as long as the lemma ; stigmas 3, 

 elongate, persistent, coiled, the mature fruits hanging by these entangled stigmas. 



1. Streptogyne crinita Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 80. pi. 16. f. 8. 1812. 



An erect perennial, 1 to 1.5 meters tall, with elongate leaves mostly aggregated 

 at the base and reaching beyond the base of the inflorescence, the blades 1 to 1.5 

 cm. wide, and a slender spike 30 to 50 cm. long, the axis rather firm, the short- 

 pediceled slender spikelets appressed, about 3 cm. long, excluding the slender 

 awns and curled stigmas. 



Rich woods, Veracruz and Trinidad (Tabaquite, Caparo Forest) to Brazil. 

 " Carolina," the locality given with the original description, is an error. Beau- 

 vois also mentions Guiana. 



97. UNIOLA L. 



Spikelets strongly compressed, few to many-flowered, the lower 1 to 4 florets 

 empty; glumes and lemmas keeled, firm, the glumes small, the lemmas faintly 

 many-nerved ; paleas rigid, the keels broadly winged. 



Spikelets 8 to 10 mm. broad, in a drooping panicle 1. U. pauiculata. 



Spikelets less than 2 mm. wide, closely aggregated in numerous spikes, forming 

 a long narrow erect inflorescence 2. U. virgata. 



1. TJniola paniculata L. Sp. PL 71. 1753. Seaside oats. 

 A robust tufted smooth perennial, often 2 meters tall, with long, tough, involute 



blades and long panicles of pale heavy spikelets, commonly 2.5 cm. long. 



Sandy seacoasts, Virginia to South America. Originally described from 

 " Carolina." In Cuba called " arana." 



Bahamas (New Providence, Andros, Inagua) and Cuba. 



2. Uniola virgata (Poir.) Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 531. 1864. 

 Poa virgata Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 5: 78. 1804. 



Uniola racemiflora Trin. M6m. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 2*: 55. 1836. 

 TJniola sparta Trin. Linnaea 10: 307. 1836. 



Eleusine procera Spreng. ; Steud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 549. 1840, as synonym 

 of Uniola racemiflora. 



