GRAMINEAE 99 
1.5 mm long, the first and second glumes less than one-half as long as the 
flowering glume. 
In waste places, roadsides, etc., scattered, fl. all the year; widely dis- 
tributed in the Philippines. India to China and Malaya. 
2. S. virginicus (L.) Kunth. 
A rather slender perennial grass with prostrate, creeping stems, the 
erect or ascending flowering branches 8 to 30 cm high. Leaves close-set 
2-ranked, spreading, convolute when dry, 1.5 to. 7 em long. Panicles 
rather dense, spike-like, pale, 5 to 6 em long. Spikelets about 1.5 mm 
long, the first and second glumes acute, nearly as long as the flowering 
glume. 
In open grassy places along tidal streams, Malate, Malabon, etc., fl. 
June-Sept. Along the seashore throughout the tropics and in some tem- 
perate regions. 
33. ARISTIDA Linnaeus 
Annual or perennial, slender or coarse, erect grasses, the leaves slender. 
Spikelets usually in lax panicles, 1-flowered. Glumes 3, the first and 
second empty, narrow, keeled, persistent, the third narrow, rigid, cylin- 
dric or convolute, acuminate, the tip produced into a long, 3-partite, 
naked or feathery awn which is often twisted below the branches. (Latin 
“awn” in allusion to the awned flowering glumes.) 
Species more than 100 in all-warm countries, 3 or 4 in the Philippines. 
1. A. cumingiana Trin. & Rupr. 
A very slender, tufted, glabrous, annual grass 6 to 30 cm high. Leaves 
filiform, up to 10 cm long. Panicles purple, open, lax, 5 to 12 cm long, 
the branches and pedicels capillary. Spikelets purple, long-pedicelled, 
lanceolate, 3 to 3.5 mm long, the second glume longer than the first, the 
flowering-glume about as long as the first, the awn slender, 8 to 10 mm 
long, the lateral arms about one-half as long as the median one. 
In open dry grass lands, La Loma, Masambong, etc., fl. Dec.—Feb.; 
widely distributed in the Philippines but of local occurrence. India to 
China; also in tropical Africa. 
384. DIPLACHNE Beauvois 
Tall, tufted, annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat, narrow. Spike- 
lets many-flowered, spicately arranged on the slender branches of a simple 
panicle, the spikes not jointed at the base; frachilla jointed at the base 
and beneath each flowering glume, not produced beyond the uppermost 
glume. First and second glumes empty, unequal, obtuse, thin, 1-nerved, 
persistent. Flowering glumes several, oblong, 1- to 3-nerved, 2- to 4- 
toothed at the tips, mucronate or awned. Grain free within the glumes 
and palea. (Greek “two” and “lobed” in allusion to the toothed or lobed 
flowering glumes.) 
Species about 15, in most warm regions, one in the Philippines. 
1. D. fusca (L.) Beauv. 
A tufted, rather stout, erect, glabrous grass, 40 em to 1 m high. Leaves 
6 to 50 cm long, 6 mm wide or less, flat, scabrid, the sheaths smooth. Pani- 
cles exserted, 10 to 30 cm long, pale-green, erect or nodding, the spikes 
numerous, spreading or ascending, alternate, slender, 5 to 11 cm long. 
Spikelets rather distant, 7 to 10 mm long, linear, 5- to 8-flowered. 
