180 Chase — Notes on Genera of Panieese. Iff. 



Sprengel ( 1826, Syst. 1 : 238. ) includes 0. pauciflora Sw. in Olyra giv- 

 ing Lithachne as synonym. 



Nees(1829, Agros. Bras. 309) in a note alter Olyra floribunda Radd. 

 says that this species, which he inserts on the authority of Raddi not having 

 seen it, is to he referred to Lithachne Beauv. with Olyra pauciflora Sw. 

 The latter is not included in his Agrostologia Brasiliensis. 



Kimth (1829, Rev. Gram. ! : 29 and 1833, Enum. 1 : 68) places 0. 

 pauciflora Sw. in Olyra without mentioning the gibbous floret in either 

 the generic or specific description, though the axillary panicles are noted. 

 Strephium Schrad. is given generic rank in the Enumeratio (p. 70) em- 

 phasis being given to " Cnlmi caespitosi. Folia disticha. Racemi axil- 

 lares, pauciflori " which would apply as well to 0. pauciflora Sw. 



Trinins (1835, Pan. (Jen. :I0)* places <>. pauciflora Sw. together with 

 0. floribunda Radd. and 0. polypodioides Trin. in Olyra under "b) Spic- 

 ulae femineae in racemis propriis, inferis vel paniculae masculae subjectis 

 (Lithachne P. B.)." The gibbous fruit of 0. pauciflora is noted. 



Steudel (1854, Syn. PI. Glum. 1 : 37) includes Olyra pauciflora Sw. as 

 well as 0. floribunda Radd. and 0. polypodioides Trin. in Olyra, copying 

 Trinins' synoptical heading given above. The gibbous floret of 0. pauci- 

 flora Sw. is not mentioned. 



Grisebach (1864, El. Brit. W. Ind. 536) includes 0. pauciflora ^\\. 

 under Olyra; the pistillate "flower obversely deltoid," is mentioned. In 

 1866 (Cat. PL Cub. 229) Grisebach makes the same disposition of it and 

 includes 0. pineti Wright and 0. strephioides Griseb. also. 



Fournier ( 1S7I>, Bull. Soc. Bot. Belg. 15: 464, 465) in a paper " Sur les 

 Graminees mexicaines a sexes separes," distinguishes between Olrya, 

 Lithachne and Strephium but makes some errors in detail. Of Lithachne 

 he says the male spikelets are superior and the female inferior which serves 

 to distinguish it from Olyra : and again, that Lithachne axillaris Beauv. 

 (0. pauciflora Sw.) establishes a transition from Lithachne to Sin phi urn, 

 that the inferior axillary branches are reduced to a single (lower, hut these 

 [pistillate spikelets] still form part of the same terminal panicle as the 

 males, that this species further differs from Strephium in the bellied or 

 swollen female floret. Of Strephium he says that the male and female 

 spikelets are in different inflorescences. But some of these distinctions 

 do not hold good in all cases and some aie wholly in error. In 0, pauci- 

 flora the axillary panicles hear one to several staminate spikelets below the 

 terminal pistillate one; again we find no specimens in which pistillate 

 spikelets are truly in the terminal panicle, hut they sometimes appear to he 

 so since the upper blades are crowded at the summit of the culm and their 

 respective axillary inflorescences overlap the terminal one, which, so far as 

 our specimens show, is entirely staminate when present, hut it is. often 

 wanting. As for Strephium while the staminate and pistillate spikelets 

 are almost constantly in distinct racemes we find staminate spikelets (or 

 their characteristic slender pedicels as distinguished from the clavate 



pedicels of tin- pistillate spikelets) below the pistillate spikelets in the 



♦ Mem. Acad, ivtrrsl.. s,. r . VI.:; : -'118. Is::;,. 



