230 Harper : Some plants from Georgia 



length of the culms, diffusely branched : spikelets yellowish, 3-4 

 mm. long, solitary on capillary diverging pedicels 5-15 mm. long: 

 scales acute, the outermost one half to two thirds as long as the 

 rest. 



A very distinct species, related to S. Cnrtissii (Vasey) Small 



and S. floridamts Chapm. 5*. Cnrtissii has stififer and broader 

 leaves of very different structure,* and its spikelets are chestnut- 

 colored, mostly appressed to the nearly straight ascending branches 

 of the subsimple panicle, and longer, with the scales more attenuate 

 and the outermost nearly as long as the rest. The inflorescence 

 of S. floridanus is more like that of the new species, except that 

 the spikelets are purplish and more numerous, but the whole plant 

 is much stouter, and the leaves are nearly flat and often 5 mm. 

 broad. f 



Sporobolus teretifoliits is a frequent and characteristic inhabitant 

 of moist pine-barrens in the Altamaha Grit region, \ flowering from 

 July to September. I have collected it in Coffee County near 

 Douglas, September 22, 1900 {no. 6yf) y and in Colquitt County 



narrow groove, the depth of which at the middle of the leaf is about two fifths of the 



longest diameter of the leaf. In this groove are a few 

 very short conical hairs. Stomata occur on both surfaces, 

 but are most noticeable in the groove. The leaf figured 

 herewith (taken from an undistributed specimen of my 

 no. 1642) contained thirteen vascular (mestome) bundles, 

 of various sizes, as indicated in the figure. The central 

 portion is filled with large celled colorless parenchyma, 

 Figure I. Cross-sec- without perceptible intercellular spaces. Between the 

 tion ( somewhat sche- vascular bundles and the epidermis the cells (stereome) 

 matic) of leaf of Sporo- are very dense and thick-walled, their cavities being 

 dolus teretifolius,o.n\axgz<i scarcely perceptible. The chlorophyl seems to be con- 

 about 20 diameters. fined to the peripheral cells of the bundles. 



*In Sporobolus Curlissii the leaf is about 2 mm. 

 wide when flat, but usually becomes conduplicate when dry. There is a well-marked 

 groove on either side of the midrib, both above and below, and in the ventral grooves 

 can be seen the buHiform cells by means of which the opening and closing of the leaf 

 is accomplished. There are nine mestome bundles, four on each side of the midrib, 

 f See Bull. Torrey Club 28 : 464, 465. 1901. 



The ranges and habitats of these three species will be contrasted in my forthcom- 

 ing flora. Morphologically the distinction between them and certain species of 

 Muhlenbergia (belonging to the section Trichochloa of many authors, or genus Podo- 

 senium of Desvaux) is a rather subtle one. In aspect as well as in habitat and distri- 

 bution the diffuse-panicled species of Sporobolus and Muhlenbergia seem more closely 

 related to each other than to the original species of either genus. 

 X See Torreya 5 : 114. 1905. 



