Hitchcock — Tlic Grasses of Hazvaii 179 



Racemes more than 2, racemosely arranged. 



Spikelets glabrous 4. P. orbiculare. 



Spikelets pubescent. 



Spikelets 3 to 3.5 mm. long: racemes few to several, more or less spreading 



5. P. dilatatum. 



Spikelets 2 mm. long; racemes usually numerous, suberect 6. P. larranagai. 



1. Paspalum fimbriatum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. i 193. 1816. 



Plants annual; culms erect, rather soft, 30 to 60 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous; blades flat, 

 glabrous, 5 to 20 cm. long, 5 to 10 mm. wide; racemes few, erect or ascending, 3 to 5 cm. long, 

 the rachis nearly 2 mm. wide ; spikelets orbicular-ovate, glabrous, 2 mm. long, with a broad, stiff, 

 lacerate margin (fig. 63). 



A weed along roadsides ; introduced. Originally described from Colombia. 

 Oahu: Honolulu, Hitchcock 13672, 15561. 



2. Paspalum distichum L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2:855. 1759. 



Culms erect from a decumbent rooting base, with numerous creeping rhizomes, glabrous, 

 or the nodes pubescent, 30 to 60 cm. tall ; sheaths glabrous or pubescent ; blades flat, glabrous, or 

 rarely pubescent, 5 to 10 cm. long, the upper shorter; racemes commonly 2, one sessile, the other 

 slightly peduncled, in some plants a third below these, all more or less pilose at base, ascending 

 or appressed, 3 to 5 cm. long; spikelets elliptic, 3 mm. long; first glume variable in length, or 

 wanting on the lower spikelets, glabrous ; second glume pubescent ; sterile lemma glabrous 

 (fig- 65). 



Marshes near sea; probably introduced. Tropics of both hemispheres. The 

 source of Linnaeus 's specimen is unknown. 

 Oahu: Waikiki, Hitchcock 13803. 



3. Paspalum conjugatum Bergius, Act. Helv. Phys. Math. 7:129. 1762. Hii^o grass. 



Culms erect from a decumbent base mostly 30 to 60 cm. tall, producing extensively creep- 

 ing leafy stolons; sheaths glabrous; blades flat, 5 to 15 cm. long, 5 to 10 mm. wide; racemes 2, 

 conjugate, slender and spreading, 5 to 10 cm. long or even longer, villous at the base, the rachis 

 about 0.5 mm. wide; spikelets yellow, orbicular-ovate, about 1.5 mm. long, sparsely silky-villous 

 along the margin (fig. 67). 



Roadsides, waste places and moist grassland; introduced. Very abundant 

 in the zone below moist forests. Tropics of both hemispheres. Originally described 

 from Dutch Guiana. 

 Oahu: Honolulu, Hitchcock 13729, 14067. Nuuanu Valley, Forbes in 1908. 



Slopes of Alakiki, Heller 1975. Hauula, Planner in 1895. 

 Hawaii: Paauhau, Rock in 1909. Hilo, Hitchcock 14182; Newell in 1917. 

 Without locality: Hillebrand 492. 



4. Paspalum orbiculare Forst. Florul. Ins. Austr. Prodr. 7. 1786. 



Plants perennial, glabrous throughout; culms erect, as much as i meter tall; blades 

 narrow, erect or ascending, 10 to 25 cm. long, 5 to 8 mm. wide, flat ; racemes mostly 4 to 6, 

 spreading, 3 to 5 cm. long, distant on the axis i to 3 cm., the rachis i mm. wide: spikelets 

 tawny or brownish, closely imbricate, glabrous, broadly elliptic, 2 mm. long; fruit brownish 

 (fig. 68). 



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