GRASS FAMILY. 109 
Io. Paspalum compréssum (Sw.) Nees. Flat Paspalum. (Fig. 236.) 
Paspalum tristachyum Tam.Tabl. Encycl. 1: 176. 
1791? 
Miliums compressum Sw. F1. Ind. Oce. 1: 183. 
1797- 
Belem platycaulon Poir. in Iam. Encycl. 5: 
34. 804. 
Paspalum compressum Nees, in Mart. F1. Bras. 
2:23. 1829. 
Stolons numerous, leafy, sometimes 2° 
long. Culms 6/—2° tall, slender, compressed, 
glabrous ; sheaths loose; leaves glabrous, 
ometimes sparsely ciliate, obtuse, those of 
the culm 2/4’ long, 2/’-3’’ wide, those of 
the stolons about 1’ long, 1//-2/” wide; 
spikes 2-5, 1-2’ long, approximate at the 
summit of the long and slender stalk ; spike- 
lets not crowded nor secund, about 1’’ long, 
acute, the back of the flowering scale turned 
oblong, away from the rachis. 
Virginia to Florida and west to Louisiana. 
Widely distributed in tropical America. Proba- 
bly not native in the United States. Aug.—Sept. 
11. Paspalum paspaloides (Michx.) Scribner. Crab-grass Paspalum. 
(Fig. 237.) 
Digitaria paspalotdes Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. I: 
46. 1803. 
Paspalum Michauxianum Kunth, Rey. Gram. 
Ti2h. 1835. 
Paspalum Elliottit S. Wats. in A. Gray, Man. 
Ed. 6, 629. 1890. 
Paspalum paspalotdes Scribn. Mem. Torr. Club, 
20) L804. 
Culms 1°-2%° tall, erect, from an ex- 
tensively creeping base, slender, glabrous. 
Sheaths and leaves glabrous or pubescent, the 
latter 2-9’ long, 3/’-6’’ wide, obtuse ; spikes 
1%4/-314’ long, in pairs, or sometimes with 
an additional one, near the summit of the 
1-2 slender stalks, which are long-exserted 
from the upper sheath ; rachis flat, about %4’’ 
wide, scabrous on the margins, the inter- 
nodes about equalling the spikelets in length ; 
spikelets about 2’’ long, broadly lanceolate, 
acute, not crowded; outer scales 5-nerved, 
glabrous, the back of the third scale turned 
away from the rachis. 
Moist ground, Maryland to Florida, west to 
Texas. July—Aug. 
9. AMPHICARPON Raf. Am. Month. Mag. 2: 175. 1818. 
Erect perennial grasses, with flat leaves and spikelets of two kinds; one kind borne in 
terminal panicles, deciduous without perfecting fruit ; the other solitary, terminating subter- 
ranean peduncles, and maturing seed. Scales 3, membranous, the innermost subtending a 
palet and a perfect flower; the scales of the subterranean spikelets become indurated and 
enclose the grain. Stamens 3. Stigmas plumose. [Greek, in allusion to the two kinds 
of spikelets. ] 
Species 2, inhabiting the southeastern United States, one of them restricted to Florida. 
