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1906] BRIEFER ARTICLES 295 
wide, pubescent above, minutely papillate-scabrous or glabrescent be- 
neath, scabrous-ciliate on the margin; ligule very short, scarcely 3™™ 
long, fimbriate; spikes 1 to 3, similar to 7. dactyloides but more slender, 
pistillate section 2 to 3™™ wide, staminate spikelets sessile or nearly so, 
3 to 4™™ long, outer glume coriaceous, oblong, rounded at apex, scab- 
rous, ciliate on marginal keels, rather minutely striate with about ten 
nerves. ; 
The type specimen was collected by H. von Tuerckheim at Cubilquitz, 
Dept. Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, alt. 350", Jan. 1902, no. 8333. The 
only other specimen I have seen was collected by C. Thieme at San Pedro 
Sula, Dept. Santa Barbara, Honduras, alt. 500™, March 1887, no. 55958. 
Both specimens are in the National Herbarium (Herb. John Donnell 
Smith). 
The species is well distinguished from the other species with sessile 
staminate spikelets by its broad pubescent leaves. 
Tripsacum DActTyLompEs (L.) L., Syst., Ed. 10, 2:1261. 1759.— 
Coix dactyloides L., Sp. Pl. 2:972. 1753.—Usually glabrous through- 
out except the upper surface of the blades along the midrib near the base. 
This and sometimes a considerable portion of the upper surface of the 
blades may be sparsely pilose. The specimens from Florida and along 
the Gulf Coast are usually pilose in this way, or occasionally the pubes 
cence may extend to the young sheaths of the branches. The more pubes- 
cent forms connect the species with the following subspecies, which occurs 
in Mexico. The terminal spikes are usually in digitate clusters of two 
to three, while the axillary spikes may be single. Sometimes, especially 
in Texas, the terminal spikes are also single (TJ. dactyloides monostachyum) 
(Willd.) Gray, Man. 616. 1848. T. monostachyum Willd., Sp. Pl. 4:202. 
1805. Type locality ‘Carolina meridionali.”” 
Southern New England to Florida and Texas, mostly near the coast; 
but extending inland west to west Texas, and north to Nebraska, Iowa, 
southern Illinois, and eastern Tennessee. 
If the spike is single the pistillate portion is cylindrical; if the spikes 
are two or three, the pistillate portions are flattened on the inner surfaces 
so that all together they form a cylinder, and the lower are more or less 
peduncled. 
TRIPSACUM DACTYLOIDES hispidum, n. subsp. —Laminae supra his- 
pidae; vaginae hispidae vel glabrescentes. 
The staminate flowers are less chartaceous than is usual in 7. dacty- 
loides. 
Mexico and southward. San Luis Potosi, rocky hills, Las Canoas, 
