Britton : Cuban Plants New to Science 59 



pairs, crowded towards the summit, only one developed in the 

 lower pairs, the other rudimentary or wanting; spikelets about 

 twice as long - as the pedicel, elliptic, 1. 6-1.8 mm. long, 1 mm. 

 wide, more or less crimson ; second glume and sterile lemma sub- 

 equal, with some spreading hairs near the margin, otherwise gla- 

 brous ; fruit pale, somewhat exceeding the second glume at ma- 

 turity; palea somewhat papillose-roughened. 



Palm barren, sabana de Motembo, Santa Clara (Leon & Roca 

 8164). The type specimen is preserved in the Colegio De La 

 Salle Herbarium, Vedado, Havana. 



Family CYPERACEAE 



Cyperus camagueyensis Britton, sp. nov. 



Perennial; culms tufted, slender, smooth, trigonous, erect, 

 3-6 dm. high. Basal leaves much shorter than the culm, 1-1.5 

 dm, long, 3 mm. wide or less, those of the involucre several, the 

 longer ones much surpassing the simple, several-rayed umbel ; 

 umbel-rays very slender, 5 cm. long or less ; spikelets loosely 

 spicate, 1.5-3 cm - l n g> fiat* many-flowered, the rachis angular, 

 wingless, persistent after the scales have fallen ; scales oblong- 

 lanceolate, brown, appressed, acute, 1.5 mm. long; stamens 2 or 

 3 ; style-branches 2, filiform; achenes oblong, grey, smooth, apicu- 

 late, 0.75 mm. long, nearly 0.5 mm. thick, persistent. 



Vicinity of La Gloria, Camaguey (Shafer 196). 



Cyperus Underwoodii Britton, sp. nov. 



Culms densely tufted, slender but rigid, erect, arching or re- 

 curved, 1-4 dm. long. Basal leaves 1-5 cm. long, or reduced to 

 sheaths, those of the involucre 1-3, the longest about 7 cm. long 

 or shorter, sometimes only 1 cm. long or less; spikelets few or 

 several in a dense terminal cluster, nearly terete, 5-10 mm. long, 

 few-flowered; scales brown, striate, oval, obtusish, appressed, 

 about 2 mm. long; achene linear-oblong, trigonous, apiculate, 2 

 mm. long, about 0.5 mm. thick. 



Dry soil, vicinity of Santiago, Oriente (Underwood 1694). 



Eleocharis Shaferi Britton, sp. nov. 



Perennial; culms capillary, weak, densely tufted, about 2 

 dm. long; upper sheath apparently not scarious; spikelet oblong, 

 4-5 mm. long, 1-1.5 mm. thick, acute, few-flowered; scales pale, 

 appressed, obtuse or obtusish, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, ap- 

 pressed, the lower one 2-2.5 mm - kong, shorter than the upper 



