BusJi — A Neio Genus of Grasses. 177 



Weigeltia7ia B^chb . , collected in Surinam by Weigelt in 1827, 

 and described by Reichenbach in Mem. Acad. Sci. Peterbs. 

 Ser. VI. 1 : 40 (1831), which is, at least in the Garden 

 specimen, Nuttall's Poa capitafa, and this name of Reichen- 

 bach 's therefore antedates Nuttall's some six years. Nuttall 

 was probably unaware of Reichenbach 's species, or if aware 

 of the publication, had not the least idea that his proposed 

 species from Arkansas and the one from far away Surinam 

 were one and the same. This Weigelt specimen (PI. VII.) is 

 represented by both male and female plants, and agrees per- 

 fectly with those collected by me at Columbia, Texas, and 

 Fulton, Arkansas. 



Reichenbach' s label on the Weigelt specimen above men- 

 tioned, which is cut from the original publication, reads as 

 follows : — 



" PoA Weigkltiana Rchb. Eragrostis: repens cespitosa, vaginis ad oras 

 ciliatis, paniculae (vix pollicaris) spiculis liaeari-lanceolatis 15-20. floris 

 gluraisque (hyalinis viride-) triaerviis acutis. — AflSuis P. thalassinae 

 K. H. B. sed paniculata. Surinam, leg. et exsicc. Weigelt. 1827. deterra. 

 Rchb." 



Nothing is said about the dioecious character, which the 

 observant Nuttall detected, and it is likely that Reichenbach 

 never suspected that the species was dioecious. 



Much field observation during 1900, about Columbia, 

 Texas, showed that this species of Nuttall's was very 

 common there, and also resulted in the detection of the real 

 Eragrostis hypnoides, which may now be said to be very rare 

 along the Brazos River. Nuttall's species was also discov- 

 ered on the sandy banks of the Red River at Fulton, Hemp- 

 stead County, Arkansas, in the same year, accompanied by 

 the real Eragrostis hypnoides, with which it formed quite a 

 contrast. This last locality is not very far from where 

 Nuttall collected his species on the Arkansas. During 1901 

 the study of the two plants was continued in the field, both 

 at Columbia, Texas, and at Fulton, Arkansas, and the convic- 

 tion was formed that these two related species are generically 

 distinct from Eragrostis, not only by habit, but bv the 



