POACEAE. 17 



acuminate ; second and third scale 3-nerved, long-hairy ; fruiting scale chestnut- 

 brown. 



Sandy soil and cultivated ground, Abaco, Andros, New Providence. Eleuthera, 

 Great Exuma, Cat Island, Long Cay, Acklin's Island, Inagua, and Anguilla Isles : 

 Florida ; Bermuda ; West Indies and continental tropical America. Referred by 

 Dolley to Tricholaena leucophaea. SILKY-GRASS. 







9. AXONOPUS Beauv. Agrost. 12. 1812. 



Perennial grasses, with the culms usually rooting at the lower nodes, with 

 flat leaves and 1-flowered spikelets, borne singly in 2 rows in one-sided spikes 

 which (in our species) are disposed in a single pair at the summit of the culm, 

 or sometimes with an additional one a short distance below. Spikelets oblong 

 to lanceolate, convex on the outer surface, flat on the inner. Scales 3, the 

 outer '2 membranous, the inner one firm and with its opening turned toward 

 the rachis, substending a perfect flower. Stamens 3. Styles separate.. Stigmas 

 plumose. Grain free. [Greek, foot-axis.] About 12 species, of warm tem- 

 perate and tropical regions, the following typical. 



1. Axonopus compressus (Sw.) Beauv. Agrost. 12, 154. 1812. 



Milium compressum Sw. Prodr. 24. 1788. 



Paspalum tristachyon Lam. Tab. Encycl. 1: 176. 1791. 



Anastrophus compressus Schlecht.; Nash, in Small, Fl. SE. U. S. 79. 1903. 



Stolons numerous, leafy, sometimes 6 dm. long. Culms 1.5-6 dm. tall, slen- 

 der, compressed, glabrous; sheaths loose; leaves glabrous, sometimes sparsely 

 ciliate, obtuse, those of the culm 5-10 cm. long, 4-6 mm. wide, those of the 

 stolons about 2.5 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide; spikes 2-5, 2.55 cm. long, approxi- 

 mate at the summit of the long and slender stalk; spikelets not crowded nor 

 secund, about 2 mm. long, acute. 



Grassy places, New Providence : Virginia to Florida and Texas ; the West In- 

 dies and continental tropical America. FLAT JOINT-GRASS. 



10. PASPALUM L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 855. 1759. 



Perennial grasses, various in habit, with generally flat leaves and 1-flow- 

 ered spikelets, borne singly or in pairs in 2 rows on 1-sided spikes, which are 

 single, in pairs or panicled. Spikelets oblong to orbicular, flat on the outer 

 surface, convex on the inner. Scales 3, the outer ones membranous, the inner 

 one indurated and subtending a palet and perfect flower. Stamens 3. Styles 

 separate. Stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid or oblong, free. [An ancient Greek 

 name for some grass, used by Hippocrates.] About 160 species, of wide dis- 

 tribution in tropical and temperate regions, most abundant in America. Type 

 species: Panicum dissectum. L. 



Racemes single, or, if more than 1, distant, never in pairs. 

 Spikelets wingless. 



Spikelets 1.5 mm. long or less ; racemes usually short, rarely exceeding 4 cm. 



long. 



Spikelets singly disposed. 1. P. Poiretii. 



Spikelets normally in pairs. 



Spikelets appressed-pubescent or glabrous. 



Primary pedicel much shorter than its spike- 

 let. 2. P. caespitosum. 

 Primary pedicel nearly as long as its spikelet. 3. P. portoricense. 

 Spikelets glandular-pubescent. 4. P. Simpsoni. 

 Spikelets exceeding 1.5 mm. long ; racemes long, rarely 

 under 6 cm. 



