Ililchcock — 77/c' (irasscs of llaivaii 219 



Plants perennial, willi creeping' rhizomes 1. H. halepensis. 



Plants annual 2. H. sorghum. 



1. Holcus halepensis P. Sp. PI. T047. ^7S?i- Johnson crass. 



.-huiropOL;oii halcl'ciisis Brot. IH. Pusit. i :8g. 1804. 

 Sori:;liiiiii Imlrpciisc Pers. Syn. PI. 1:101. 1805. 



Plants perennial, with stout scaly creeping- rhizomes; culms erect, glabrous, 60 to 120 cm. 

 tall; sheaths glabrous; blades Hat, 6 to 15 mm. wide, the white midrib prominent; panicle 15 to 

 25 cm. long, more or less .spreading; sessile spikel'et about 5 mm. long, lanceolate; glumes pubes- 

 cent, becoming glabrous and shining except at base and margins; pediceled spikelets narrow, 

 4 mm. long, on pedicels 3 mm. long, the glumes membranaceous, nerved, glabrous (fig. 108). 



liitfoduced ill fields and alons;' roadsides. Originally described from Syria. 

 Oahu: Nuuanu Valley, Forbes 1331. Manoa Valley, Hitchcock 13734. 



2. Holcus sorghum P. S]i. PI. 1047. 175,1. Souciii'm. Sukgo. 



Sorghiini saccharatiiiii IMoench. Metli. 207. 1794. 

 Sori^liuiii ■vu!i:;urc Pers. Syn. P'l. i :ioi. 1805. 



Plants annual, usually mbust, the spikelet characters similar to those of 

 II. halepensis. the panicle larg-e and spreading or comjjacr. Many varieties are in 

 cultiA'ation throughout the world. Some of these have been grown in the Hawaiian 

 islands and may occasionally be found growing s])ontaneously, though I have seen 

 no specimens except the Sudan grass {H. sorghuiit sudanciisis (Piper) Hitchc. 

 Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 29:128. 1916; Andropo'gon sori^lnim sudanciisis 

 Piper, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 28:33. 1915.), which has been found on the 

 experiment plots at Schofield Barracks and has escaped in the vicinitv. It was also 

 found at Honolulu (Hitchcock 13674) and T^ihue (Forbes 591). I lillebrand'^ 

 describes two species. Sorghum vulgarc, the sorghum or Guinea corn, and .S*. sac- 

 charatuiii the sweet or sugar sorghum. Sudan grass is widely grown in the United 

 States for forage. 



48. RHAPHIS Pour. 



Spikelets in threes, one sessile and perfect, the other two pedicellate anrl sterile, or a pair 

 lielow, one fertile and one sterile; fertile spikelet terete, the glumes coriaceous: sterile and 

 fertile lemmas thin and hyaline, the latter long-awned. Perennial grasses, with open panicles, 

 the three spikelets (reduced racemes) borne at the ends of slender naked branches. 



I. Rhaphis aciculata ( Ketz. ) Desv. Opusc. 69. 1831. 



Androf>ogoii aciciilatus Retz. Obs. Bot. 5:22. 1789. 



Rhaphis trivialis Lour. Fl. Cochinch. 553. 1790. 



Andropogon aciciilaris Willd, Sp. PL 4:906. 1806. 



Chrysopogon aciciilatus Trin. Fund. Agrost. 188. 1820. 



Desvau.x uses the specific name acicularc, basing it upon ".Indro poison aciciilarc Retz." 



Plants peremiial, creeping and rooting, the base of the sterile shoots in open ground cov- 

 ered with imbricate, scalelike old sheaths ; culms ascending or erect from a decumbent base, 

 10 to 30 cm. tall ; sheaths glabrous, mostly overlapping, ciliate or villous on the margin ; blades 

 mostly toward the decumbent base of the culm, flat, glabrous, scabrous on the margin with sharp 

 rather distant teeth. 2 to 5 cm. long. 3 to 5 mm. wide, the uppermost much reduced ; panicle 

 narrowly elliptic, 3 to 6 cm. long, the slender branches ascending or appressed, smooth, as much 



^ Op. cit.. p. 51 1. 



[ 121 ] 



