168 



PANICACE^. 



Found along the coast in the Southern States, also in the West 

 Indies, Mexico, Buenos Ayres, Sandwich 

 Islands, Australia. 



34. (25). Olyra L. Syst. Ed. 10. 1261 

 (1759). Mapira Adans. Fam. 2:39 (1763). 

 Litliaclme Beauv. Agrost. 135, t. 24, f. 2 

 (1812). i?ac/f/*a Bertol. in opusc. Sc. Bologn. 

 3:410 (1819). Strepliium Schrad. Kces, 

 Agrost. Bras. 298 (1829). 



Spikelets 1-flowered, monoecious in pani- 

 cles, those which are staminate, on the lower 

 portion of the panicle or in separate panicles, 

 destitute of empty glumes, floral glume nar- 

 row and acuminate, 1-nerved, palea 2-nerved, 

 nearly as long as its glume. Stamens 3, 

 Pistillate sj^ikelets usually in the upper por- 

 tion of the panicle, ovate; empty glumes her- 

 baceous, pointed or awned, equal, or the first 

 longer; floral glume and palea much shorter, 

 obtuse, cartilaginous. Stamens 0. Styles 2, 

 united at the base. Grain firmly enclosed, 

 but not adherent. Blades of the leaves 

 broad, netted-veined, often borne on short 

 Pig. 'i^.-Ste.notavhTum petioles; panicles terminal or axillary. 



Species about twenty; one of them be- 

 longs to troj^ical Africa, the others to tropical 

 America. Some authors reduce nearly all of the species to varieties 

 of 0. latifolia. 



1. 0. latifolia L. 1. c. 0. imniculata Sw. Obs. Bot. 347 

 (1791). 



Culms hard, branched. Leaves more or less jDuberulent; 

 sheaths shorter than the internodes; ligule a mere ring; blades flat, 

 ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 7-14 cm. long. Panicles terminal 

 or axillary, simple, oval, 10-17 cm. long, rays scattered or in threes 

 to sevens, rather stout. Fertile spikelets ovoid, acuminate, empty 

 glumes with involute tips; first 11-13-nerved, 7-12 mm. long, 



secnndatum. A, portion 

 of spike; a, spilielet. 



