GRASSES. 345 



Syntherisma setosum (Desv.) Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 25 : 300. 1898. 



D'njitaria setosa Desv. in Hamilton, Prodr. PI. Ind. Occ. 6. 182D. 



Panicum hamiltonii KTinth, Enum. 1 : 84, 1833. 



Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 544. 



Decumbent and rooting at the base; softly pilose below, smooth above; lower 

 slieatbs papillose-pilose, the upper longer, smooth; spikes numerous; spikelets in 

 pairs, crowded, frequently with a long bristle at the base ; oblong-lanceolate, acute, 

 first glume minute, second 3-nerved, shorter than the spikelet, the third 5 or 7 nerved, 

 greenish. 



WEST INDIES, MEXICO, AND OTHER TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 



Louisianian area. Florida. 



ALABAMA : Fugitive on ballast. Mobile, September, 1891. Annual. Awell-maiked 

 species, conspicuous by the shining silky villosity covering the lower part of the 

 plant, the strongly-nerved spikelets, and crowded dull greenish racemes. 



Type locality West Indian. 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



Syntherisma sanguinale (L.) Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 22:421. 1895. 



COMMON CRAB GRASS. 



Panicum sanguinale L. Sp. PI. 1 : 57. 1753. 



Digitaria sanguinalis Scop. Fl. Carn. ed. 2, 1 : 52. 1772. 



Syntherisma praecox Walt. Fl. Car. 76. 1788. 



Paspalum sanguinale Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1:176. 1791. 



Ell. Sk. 1 : 131. Gray, Man. ed. 6, 630. Chap. Fl. 572. Coulter, Contr. Nat. Herb. 

 2 : 501. Scribner, Grass. Tenn. 2 : 38, t. 7, f. 26. 



TEMPERATE AND WARMER REGIONS. COSMOPOLITAN. 



Alleghenian to Louisianian area. Ontario and throughout the Atlantic States, 

 west to Nebraska and Texas. 



ALABAMA : All over the State. Cultivated and waste ground ; a very variable and 

 widely diffused weed. Annual. 



Type locality: "Hab. in America, Europa australi." 



Economic uses : Important spontaneous hay crop. 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



Syntherisma fimbriatum (Link) Nash, Bull. Torr. Club, 25:302. 1898. 



Digitaria fimbriata Link, Hort. Reg. Bot. Berol. 1:226. 1827. 



D. marginata Roth in Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 544. 1864. ( ?) 



Culm 2 to 2 feet long, prostrate at the base, rooting at the lower nodes, at length 

 branching, smooth; nodes more or less pubescent; lower sheaths papillose-hirsute, 

 upper longer, glabrous ; leaves 1 to 3 inches long, flat, erect, glabrous, or more or 

 less pubescent at the base v^ith a few stiff hairs ; panicle jong-exserted ; racemes 2 to 3 

 inches long, erect-spreading, not crowded, mostly in pairs, rachis winged; spikelets 

 lanceolate, very acute, pediceled, in pairs; first glume minute, 3-angular, glabrous; 

 second three-fourths as long as the spikelet, 3-nerved, pubescent on the margins and 

 between the nerves with long appressed hairs ; third scale 7-nerved exceeding the 

 flowering scales and also pubescent with long appressed hairs, which on the margin 

 become at length widely spreading; fourth glume lanceolate, very acute, yellowish 

 with maturity. 



TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL COUNTRIES. WEST INDIES, MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA, 

 AUSTRALIA, TROPICAL AFRICA, EAST INDIES. 



Carolinian and Louisiauian areas. District of Columbia to Florida, west to Texas, 

 and from Missouri and Kansas southward. 



ALABAMA: Coast plain. Waste places, ballast heaps. Mobile County. August, 

 September; not infrequent. Annual. 



Readily distinguished from Syntherisma sanguinale by its longer, narrower, and 

 more acute spikelets with their more copious pubescence, the fringed margins of 

 the third scale, and the smooth nerves. 



Type locality not ascertained. 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



TRICHOLAENA Schrad. in Schult. Mant. 2 : 163. 1824. 



Ten species. Africa, tropical America. 

 Tricholaena insularis (L.) Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 557. 1864. 



Andropogon insularis L. PI. Jam. Pugill. 30. 1759. 



Panicum insulare G. W. Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. 60. 



P. leucophaeum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. et Sp. 1 : 97. 1815. 



Chap. Fl. Suppl. 666; ed. 3, 582. Vasey, Contr. Nat. Herb. 3:25. 1892. Coulter 

 Contr. Nat. Herb. 2 : 502. 



