Hitchcock — The Grasses of Hawaii 145 



I. Aira nubigena (Hillebr.). 



Aira aiislralis Nees ; Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1:220. 1854. Not .-lira aiisfmlis Raoul, 1846. 



Deschampsia anstralis Nees ; Hillebr. Fl. Haw. Isl. 520. 1888. 



Deschampsia palleits Hillebr. Fl. Haw. Isl. 520. 1888. Not Aira pallciis Spreng. 1807. 



Deschampsia nubigena Hillebr. Fl. Haw. Isl. 521. 1888. 

 Plants perennial, often in dense tufts ; culms 30 to 100 cm. tall, stiff, glabrous : sheaths 

 glabrous: ligule firm, 3 to 4 mm. long: blades firm or coriaceous, folded or involute, glabrous or 

 scabrous, 0.5 to 1.5 mm. wide as folded, sometimes in a short basal cluster 5 to 10 cm. long, 

 sometimes elongate : panicle ovate to oblong, 5 to 30 cm. long, open or somewhat contracted, 

 usually bronze-tinted, the capillary branches in fascicles, some naked at base, some spikelet- 

 bearing near the base; spikelets shining: glumes acuminate, nearly equal, about 5. mm. long, 

 mostly bronzed in the middle, hyaline at margin and yellowish at the tip, scabrous on the keels : 

 lemmas glabrous, about 4 mm. long, the callus hairs about i mm. long: awn from near the base, 

 variable in length, nearly straight and included, or bent and exserted as much as 5 mm. (fig. 30). 



The three species given by Hillebrand (Deschaiiif'sia palicns. D. anstralis. 

 D. nubigena) seem to be all forms of A. nubigena. It grows on the dry plains of 

 the upper elevations in company with Trisetum glomeratnm. It also grows in the 

 open bogs at the summits of the mountains, where it is often more dwarfed with 

 short basal tufts of leaves, and in the wet forest where the whole plant is more lax. 



Dry slopes and plains and also swamps, at upper altitudes. Aira anstralis 

 was described from "Ins. Owyhee"; Dcsclianipsia nubigena was described from 

 "top of Mt. Eeka, Maui." 

 Kauai: Kahokiamano, Rock 4176: Hitchcock 15340. Alakai Swamp, Forbes 875. 



Waialeale, Hitchcock 15506. W'aimea, 2000 to 3000 feet, Mann & 



Brigham 306. 

 Molokai: A\'ailau, Faurie 1284. Kamalo Bog, Hitchcock 15104. 

 Maui: Puu Kukui, Hitchcock 14728, 14825; Rock 8139. "Mt. Eeke" Forbes 368. 



Olinda, wet forest, Hitchcock 14899, 1-4907. Haleakala Crater, Rock 851 1; 



Hitchcock 14942, 14965, 14969; Forbes 294. 

 Hawaii: ]\Iauna Loa near Rest House. Hitchcock 14622; at 8000 feet, Wilkes 



Expl. Exped. Kilauea, Faurie 1363. Hualalai Mountains, Hitchcock 1452 1 ; 



Forbes 199. Hanehane, Kona, Forbes 170. Holualoa, Forbes 805. Lua- 



makani. Rock 31 14, 3219. Kukaiau Ranch, Hitchcock 14225, 14250. Hilo, 



Rainbow Falls. Hitchcock 14198; Newell in 1917. Waikii. Rock 8408. 



Humuula Sheep Station, Hitchcock 14437; Forbes 852. Mauna Kea, 



Faurie 1366. 

 Without locality: ^^^ilkes Expl. Exped.; Hillebrand. 



16. ASPRIS Adans. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating above the glumes, not prolonged : glumes 

 about equal, acute, membranaceous or subscarious : lemmas firm, rounded on the back, tapering 

 into two slender teeth, the callus with a very short tuft of hairs, bearing on the back below the 

 middle a slender, geniculate, twisted awn commonly exserted. Low, delicate annuals (appar- 

 ently perennial in the Hawaiian islands) having small open or contracted panicles. 



I. Aspris caryophyllea (L.) Xash in Britt. & Brown, Ilhistr. Fl. ed. 2. 1:214. I9i3- 



Aira caryophyllea L. Sp. PL 66. 1753. 



Culms solitary or few or in the Hawaiian plant, numerous in apparently perennial tufts, 

 with a dense basal tuft of leaves, erect. 10 to 30 cm. tall: blades short, setaceous; panicle open, 



"[47] 



