WOOTON AND STANDLEY FLORA OP NEW MEXICO. 55 



first reduced to a ring at the articulation, the second equaling the lemma, membrana- 

 ceous, more or less acuminate; lemma slightly indurated, mucronate or shortly awn- 

 pointed; palea shorter than the lemma; stamens 3; styles distinct; grain included 

 within the hardened lemma, free. 



1. Eriochloa polystachya H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 95. pi. SI. 1816. 



Type locality: Near Guayaquil, Ecuador. 



Range: Florida and Arizona to Mexico and Tropical America. 



New Mexico: Belen; Mesilla Valley; Pena Blanca; White Mountains. Moist 

 ground, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones. 



16. PASPALTJM L. 



Perennials, often stoloniferous, with flat leaves; spikelets 1-flowered, plano-convex, 

 nearly sessile in 2 or 4 rows along one side of a continuous, narrow or dilated rachis, 

 forming simple racemes, these either solitary or 2 or more, digitate or paniculate; 

 rachilla jointed below the glumes; glumes awnless, obtuse, membranaceous, the first 

 usually wanting (often present in P. distichum, shorter than the second); grain oblong, 

 inclosed within the indurated lemma and palea. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Stems creeping, rooting at the nodes; inflorescence of 2 terminal 



spikes 1. P. distichum. 



Stems not creeping, mostly erect, not rooting at the nodes; panicle 

 of more than 2 scattered spikes. 

 Spikelets on short pedicels; plants almost glabrous, the slender 



hairs mostly confined to the leaf margins 2. P. ciliatifolium. 



Spikelets sessile or nearly so; plants more or less villous with 



stiff hairs all over the leaves 3. P. bushii. 



1. Paspalum distichum L. Amoen. Acad. 5: 391. 1759. Joint grass. 

 Type locality: Jamaica. 



Range: California and North Carolina to Florida; also in South America, East 

 Indies, and Australia. 



New Mexico: Socorro; Kingston; Mangas Springs; Rincon; Cienaga Ranch; 

 Apache Teju; Mesilla Valley; Organ Mountains. River valleys, especially in day 

 soil, in the Lower and Upper Sonoran zones. 



A common weed in irrigated fields, difficult to exterminate because of its long, 

 creeping stems. 



2. Paspalum ciliatifolium Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 44. 1803. 



Paspalum setaceum ciliatifolium Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 17. 1892. 



Type locality: " Habitat in Carolina." 



Range: New Mexico and Texas to New Jersey and Florida; also in Mexico and 

 South America. 



Xkw Mexico: Arroyo Ranch, near Roswell (GfriffUhs 5734). l>ry Boil, in the Upper 

 Sonoran Zone. 



3. Paspalum bushii Nash in Britton, Man. 71. L901. 

 Type locality: Missouri. 



Range: Missouri to Kansas and eastern New Mexico. 



Nkw Mexico: Northeast of Clayton; Bands south of Melrose; Nara Visa. Plains, 



in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



