PANICEiE. 165 



floret ovate-lanceolate, 5-nerved, 7 mm. long; floral glume of the 

 terminal floret 5-nerved, 5-6 mm. long. 



Sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant. 



South America. 



4. P. cenchroides Rich. Pers. Syn. 1 : 72 (1805). Gymnothrix 

 cenchroides I\. & S. Syst. 3: 499 (1817). 



Culms slender, geniculate, branching below, 30-60 cm. high. 

 Sheaths about half as long as the internodes; ligule ciliate; blades 

 flat, smooth or nearly so, 8-12 cm. long, 3-5 mm. wide. Spike 

 dense, exserted, ovate, 2-4 cm. long, the involucre usually contain- 

 ing 2-3 spikelets, consisting of simple spreading bristles below, 

 and erect plumose bristles united more or less at the base, the latter 

 2-3 times as long as the spikelets. Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, 4-5 

 mm. long, first glume thin, ovate, 1-nerved, almost 2 mm. long, sec- 

 ond a little longer, 1-3-nerved; floral glume of staminate spikelet 

 broad-ovate, with 5 prominent nerves, its palea ovate, nearly as long; 

 floral glume and palea of terminal floret much like those of the 

 lower floret, only a little longer. 



Plant from the U. S. Dept. Agricul. grown from seed from 

 Mexico. 



5. P. Mexicanum Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3:508 (1880). 

 Gymnothrix MexicanaY owrn. Mex. PI. Euum. Gram. 48 (1886). 



Culms smooth, 90-120 cm. high from a brandling base. Ligule 

 a mere ring; blades scabrous above, long-pointed, 40-50 cm. long, 

 10-15 mm. wide. Spikes terminal, partially enclosed at the base, 

 yellowish white or light straw-color, 20 cm. long, 1 cm. diam., bris- 

 tles of the involucre 17-25, some shorter, some as long as the 

 spikelet, and some longer; one of them 10-15 mm. long. Spikelets 

 solitary, linear-lanceolate, 5 mm. long, first glume cuneate-ovate, 

 obtuse, 1-nerved, 2 mm. long; second and third equal, linear- 

 lanceolate before spreading, 5-nerved; floral glume of fertile floret 

 hyaline, otherwise much like the second and third glumes; palea 

 of the lower neuter floret sliort, of the fertile floret 3.5 mm. long. 



Mexico, Palmer 514, Pringle 4316. 



6. P. bambusiforme Hemsl. Biol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3 : 507 (1880). 



