274 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



filled with a rather tough pith. Leaves distichous, numerous, 70 

 cm. or more long and 5 cm. or more in breadth at the base, giving 

 one the idea of a large cornstalk. Panicle often over 14 dm. long, 

 composed of numerous branches, some of which are over 5 dm. 

 long, beginning to bear flowers 4-7 cm. from the base. The long 

 branches of the panicle blow out on one side in the wind like a 

 banner, and this and the large, close-veined leaves impart a strange as 

 well as gigantic appearance to the plant. Guarani name '' Cuygua.''^ 



Arundo Donax, L., Sp. PL, 81. 



Asuncion (680) ; Pilcomajo River (1064). June. 



Culm smooth, hollow and jointed like a reed, 13-20 mm. thick at 

 the base, and 3-4 J m. high. Leaves 2-ranked, the largest 5 dm. or 

 more in length and 4-5 cm. broad at the base, acuminate, glabrous 

 on the margins as well as on the surface. Flowers in a dense, 

 contracted panicle 5^-8 dm. in length, composed of numerous closely 

 disposed capillary branches, arranged on all sides of the rachis, and 

 bearing innumerable spikes and spikelets. Outer glumes chestnut- 

 colored, bristle-tipped, 10-12 mm. long; the inner clothed with white 

 silky hairs. This grass is commonly known in Paraguay as " Gafia 

 Gastilla^^ and is the native Cana, but it would be impossible to get 

 juice from the culms like that of the sugar-cane, which is the true 

 Caiia. It may have been named Gastilian sugar-cane in derision 

 of the Spaniards, who are not loved in Paraguay. 



l^ragrostis Baliiensis^ Schultes, Mant., ii, 318. 



Asuncion (256). December. 



A caespitose grass with slender culms 3-5 dm. high. Leaves 

 very short. Panicle laxly branched, 10-16 cm. long, the branches 

 drooping ; the spikes containing from 10 to 25 lead-colored spike- 

 lets. Panicle on naked peduncles 15-25 cm. long, This grass 

 occurs in dry grounds, and is highly valued for pasturage. 



Kragrostis hypnoides (Lam.), B. S. P., Prel. Cat. N. Y., 69. 

 Near Asuncion (356). December. 



Kragrostis IVeesii, Trin., Act. Petrop., 1831, p. 405. 



Luque (338). December-January. 



Dwarf, 15 cm. high at the most. Leaves short, in a radical tuft, 

 or 1 or 2 at the base of the culm, covered with long, spreading white 



