96 A FLORA OF MANILA 
dense, cylindric, 2 to 10 cm long, erect or somewhat nodding, yellowish or 
purplish, about 1.5 cm in diameter including the numerous, usually spread- 
ing bristles. Spikelets 2 mm long, the flowering glume distinctly trans- 
versely rugose. 
In open, rather dry grass lands, San Pedro Macati, Masambong, etc., 
fl. July—Dec.; widely distributed in the Philippines. India to southern 
China, Malaya, and Polynesia. 
3. S. laxa Merr. 
A tufted, lax, spreading or ascending, branched, nearly glabrous plant, 
the stems slender, reaching a length of 1.2 m or less. Leaves thin, nar- 
rowly lanceolate, acuminate, 6 to 25 cm long, 6 to 10 mm wide. Panicles 
long-exserted, lax, 10 to 30 cm long, the branches remote, spreading or 
ascending, slender, branched from near the base, the lower ones up to 10 
cm long. Spikelets scattered, solitary, pedicelled, green or purplish, about 
2 mm long, the involucre reduced to a solitary, slender, scabrid awn, 5 to 
10 mm in length, terminating the branches, branchlets, and also on most 
of the pedicels. 
In thickets, opposite Guadalupe, Pasig etc., fl. Nov.Jan.; at present 
known from but few localities in Luzon, but with a very closely allied if 
not identical form in Java. 
27. CHAMAERAPHIS R. Brown . 
Prostrate, glabrous, marsh or aquatic grasses. Leaves flat, linear or 
lanceolate. Spikelets narrowly lanceolate, 1- or 2-flowered, subsessile and 
somewhat secund in spike-like branches that are racemosely arranged in a 
simple panicle, the branches produced beyond the upper spikelet as a 
slender awn. Glumes 4, the first very small, truncate, thin, the second 
longest, acuminate or narrowed into a slender awn, the third lanceolate, 
acute or awned-acuminate, enclosing a palea and a male or neuter flower, 
the fourth small, oblong, thin, enclosing a female or perfect flower. (Greek 
“round” and “needle,” in allusion to the awns.) 
Species about 6, tropical Asia to Australia, 1 in the Philippines. 
1. C. aspera (Koen.) Nees. 
Stems elongated, floating, branched, often 1 to 2 m in length, the flower- 
ing branches ascending, 20 to 30 cm long. Leaves linear-lanceolate, acu- 
minate, 5 to 10 cm long, 3 to 6 wide. Panicles exserted, pyramidal, open, 
6 to 11 cm long, the branches rather few, spreading, 2 to5cm long. Spike- 
lets few or many, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 6 to 7 mm long. 
In pools of stagnant water, local, fl. Aug.Jan.; widely distributed in 
the Philippines. India to China, Malaya, and Australia. 
28. THUAREA Persoon 
A slender, creeping, maritime grass, rooting at the nodes, much- 
branched. Leaves flat, short. Spikes surrounded by a sheathing leaf, 
the rachis flat, thin, the base at length accrescent, dilated, and enclosing 
the one or two perfect spikelets. Spikelets 1-seriate, jointed on one face 
of the rachis, the upper 4 to 6 male, the lower 1 or 2 female or perfect. 
Glumes 8 or 4, the first small, hyaline or wanting in the staminate ones, the 
second empty, the third and fourth subequal. Grain free within the glume, 
but with the rest of the spikelets enclosed in the thick, hardened base of 
