39 



adopt, for the present at least, Chapman's name, about which 

 there can be no doubt, as above stated. The P. cacspitosnm longi- 

 foliiim of Dr. Vasey would seem to me hardly worthy of the rank 

 of a variety, as both long and short leaves occur on the same 

 plant. 



Paspalum Simpsoni n. sp. 



Culms, upper sheaths, and surfaces of the leaves smooth and 

 glabrous. Culms erect, slender, 2-8 dm. tali ; sheaths loosely em- 

 bracing the culm, the basal ones short and appressed-villuos, 

 the remainder longer and usually much exceeded by the inter- 

 nodes of the mature culms, the uppermost one elongated; ligule 

 very short and truncate; leaves erect or ascending, lanceolate, or 

 linear-lanceolate, 2.5-14 cm. long, 2-10 mm. wide, rounded or 

 slightly cordate at the base, acuminate at the apex, ciliate, glau- 

 cescent above ; inflorescence 8-16 cm. long, the first internode of 

 the main axis 3.5-5 cm. in length, the remainder gradually be- 

 coming shorter ; spikes usually strict, 3-5, spreading or ascending, 

 2.5-7.5 cm. long, pubescent and pilose at the base, the rachis flat, 

 winged, one-half to two-thirds as broad as the spikelets, narrower 

 and more or less flexuous toward the apex, minutely scabrous on 

 the margins ; spikelets in 4 rows, in pairs on flattened minutely 

 scabrous shorter pedicels, obicular-obovate, 1.5 mm. long, the two 

 outer scales membranous, 3-nerved, the first one concave, pubes- 

 cent with short spreading glandular-tipped hairs, the second flat, 

 glabrous, or sparingly pubescent at the very base, the third scale 

 chartaceous, concave, smooth and shining, yellowish, enclosing a 

 palet of equal length and similar texture. 



Collected by J. H. Simpson on No Name Key, Florida, in May, 

 1 89 1, no. 184. I take pleasure in naming this grass in honor of 

 Mr. Simpson, whose extensive collections in southern peninsular 

 Florida, have added much to the knowledge of the flora of that 

 most interesting region. The Paspaliun in question has been con- 

 founded with P. caespitosuni Fluegge, a discussion of which species 

 occurs above under P. Blodgcttii, and Mr. Simpson's plant, referred 

 to previously, was distributed under the former name. Curtiss' 

 no. 5440, collected at the same locality on June 26, 1895, is this 

 same plant and was also distributed as P. caespitosiim. 



This grass is readily distinguished from P. Blodgcttii, to which 

 it is related, by its smaller and differently shaped spikelets, the 

 pubescence of which is short, spreading and glandular-tipped, and 

 by the broader and manifestly ciliate leaves. The spikelets in 



