394 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Plants In large clumps with many sterile shoots, the culms less robust than 

 in XJ. paniculata, 1 to 2 meters tall, the closely invokite blades hard and very 

 flexuous, the panicle stiffly erect, 40 to 60 cm. long, the slender stiff branches 

 narrowly ascending. 



Rocky seacoast, West Indies. Originally described from Santo Domingo. 

 llniola racemiflora was also described from Santo Domingo ; TJ. sparta was 

 described from Cuba. 



Bahamas (New Providence, Eleuthera), Cuba (Punta Brava, Rugel 870), 

 Jamaica (south coast), Haiti, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico (south coast and the 

 island of Vieques), and St. Jan. 



98. DISTICHLIS Raf. 



Plants dioecious ; spikelets compressed, several-flowered, the glumes and lem- 

 mas firm, keeled, the lemmas faintly many-nerved. 



1. Distichlis spicata (L.) Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 2: 415. 1887. Salt gbass. 



Uniola spicata L. Sp. PI. 71. 1753. 



Distichlis maritiina Raf. Journ. de Phys. 89: 104. 1819. 



A loM^ erect smooth perennial, with long running rhizomes, slender culms, 

 spreading firm involute blades, and small compact panicles, the spikelets about 

 1 cm. long. Extensive colonies of sterile plants may be recognized by the over- 

 lapping sheaths and conspicuously clo.sely distichous stiff blades. 



Salt marshes and alkaline meadows, United States, Mexico, and northern 

 West Indies. Originally described from the Atlantic coast of North America. 

 Distichlis maritima was based on Vniola spicata, though the specific name 

 appears to have been taken from Uniola maritima Michx., which Rafinesque cites 

 as a synonym. The latter is the same as Uniola paniculata L. 



Bahamas (New Providence, Watlings Island, Inagua) and Cuba. 



99. BRIZA L. 



Spikelets several to many-flowered, the florets crowded, almost horizontal; 

 glumes and lemmas broad, subchartaceous, the margins scarious ; palea much 

 smaller than its lemma. 



Spikelets few, 1 cm. wide 1. B. maxima. 



Spikelets numerous, 0.5 cm. wide 2. B. minor. 



1, Briza maxima L. Sp. PL 70. 3753. 



Slender annuals 30 to 60 cm. tall with flat roughish blades and few-flowered 

 panicles, the large handsome spikelets nodding on long capillary pedicels. 



Open ground and grass land, introduced occasionally in America. Originally 

 described from Europe. Found in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, especially 

 around Cinchona. 



2. Briza minor L. Sp. PL 70. 1753. 



A weak-stemmed annual 30 to 50 cm. tall with thin flat scabrous blades and 

 loosely flowered panicles, the branchlets subcapillary but stiffly spreading, the 

 spikelets triangular-ovate, nodding. 



Open ground, sparingly introduced in America from Europe, whence originally 

 described. Found in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. 



100. DACTYLIS L. 



Spikelets 2 to 5-flowered, strongly compressed, subsessile in dense fascicles, 

 these paniculate; glumes and lemmas keeled, mucronate, or the lemma awn- 

 tipped. 



