PANICE^. 167 



lanceolate, 10 mm. or more long, first glume 1 mm. long, second 

 acuminate, 1-nerved, 3—4 mm. long; floral glumes of both florets 

 ovate-lanceolate, about 10 mm. long, 7-9-nerved; palea but little 

 shorter. 



Sometimes cultivated as an ornamental grass. 



Abyssinia. 



33. (21). Stenotapheum Trin. Fund. Agrost. 175 (1820). 

 Diastemanthe Steud. Syn. PI. Gram. 360 (1855). 



S})ikelets with one terminal perfect flower and a stamiuate or 

 neuter one below it, usually 2-4 together in very short spikes em- 

 bedded in the alternate notches of the broad rachis of a spikelike 

 panicle, the rachis of the partial spike usually extending as a short 

 point beyond the base of the terminal spikelet, the common rachis 

 often breaking into pieces when mature. The first empty glume 

 very small, the second empty, and the largest membranous, but 

 rigid, 3-5-nerved ; floral glumes of both florets rather smaller, with 

 the nerves less prominent, and of a somewhat firmer texture; paleae 

 similar. Styles distinct. Grain enclosed, but not adherent. 



Grasses with a creeping habit. There are two or three species 

 widely spread over tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern 

 and the Western Hemispheres. 



1. S. secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 794 (1891). 

 IschcBmum secundatum Walt. Fl. Carol. 249 (1788). iV. America- 

 nnm Schrank, Flor. Monac. ^. 98 (1811-18). Diastemanthe plati/- 

 stacliys Steud. 1. c. Rotthoellia compi'essa Beauv. Agrost. 109 

 (1812). 



A glabrous ascending perennial grass, about 30 cm. high» 

 Culms slightly flattened. Sheaths compressed, loose; ligule a ciliate 

 ring; blades obtuse, flat or involute, 10-15 cm. long, 5-7 mm. 

 wide. Spikes solitary and terminal, 5-7 cm. long, convex on both 

 sides or elliptical in cross-section, axis slightly flexuose, 4 mm. Avide. 

 Spikelets 2 or 3 together on angular branches, sessile, oval-oblong, 

 acute or acuminate, 4 mm. long, the partial rachis reaching nearly 

 to the top of the sjiikelets. 



Florida, Garber, Curtiss 3621; Louisiana, Langlois; Cuba, 

 Wright 3490. 



