Hitchcock — Tlic Grasses of Hazvaii 199 



18. Panicum forbesii sp. nov. 



Plants perennial, in large tufts ; culms radiating or erect, 5 to 30 cm. tall ; sheaths glab- 

 rous or hispidiilous : ligule densely ciliate, about 0.5 mm. long; blades flat, spreading, 2 to 5 cm. 

 long, I to 3 mm. wide, glabrous : panicle oval, rather few-flowered, 2 or 3 cm. long, the 

 branches ascending or somewhat spreading, i cm. long, rather sparsely villous, flexuous ; spike- 

 lets a little over 2 mm. long, glabrous; first glume less than i mm. long; second glume and 

 sterile lemma equal, the glume 9-nerved, the lemma 7-nerved, the sterile palea more than half 

 as long as the lemma; fruit as long as the sterile lemma (fig. 88). 



Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, no. 1038972, collected on the banks 

 of Kawaikoi and Waiakoali streams, in the Waimea drainage basin, Kauai, 

 Hawaiian islands, July 3 to August 18, 1917, by C. N. Forbes (no. 1052). 



The only other specimen seen is from the Alakai Swamp, also in the Waimea 

 drainage basin. 



19. Panicum cynodon Reichardt, Sitzungsb. Akad. Wiss. Math. Naturw. (Wien) 76' 724. 1878. 



Plants perennial; forming mats; culms 10 to 15 cm. long; sheaths glabrous or hispidu- 

 lous ; ligule densely ciliate, less than i mm. long ; blades fiat, puberulons on the upper surface, 

 I to 2 cm. long, 2 to 3 mm. wide; panicle narrow, i to 2 cm. long, the branches ascending or 

 appressed, glabrous or puberulous ; spikelets about 2.5 mm. long, glabrous, oblong ; first glume 

 half to two-thirds as long as the spikelet ; second glume and sterile lemma equal, 7-nerved, the 

 sterile palea half as long as the lemma; fruit 1.5 mm. long (fig. 89). 



Open bogs and swampy woods on summits of mountains, forming mats. 



In the open the culms are short, among other plants the culms are 20-25 cm. tall. 



Kauai: Kauluwehi Swamp, Hitchcock 15517. Waialeale, 3600-5080 ft., Hitch- 

 cock 15503. 



37. SACCIOLEPIS Nash. 



Spikelets oblong-conic ; first glume generally much shorter than the spikelet ; second glume 

 broad, inflated-saccate, strongly many-nerved ; sterile lemma narrower, flat, fewer nerved, its 

 palea nearly as long, often subtending a staminate flower; fertile lemma stipitate, elliptic, char- 

 taceous-indurate, the margins inroUed, the palea not inclosed at the summit. Annuals or peren- 

 nials, of wet soil, usually branching, the inflorescence a dense, spikelike panicle, commonly 

 elongate. 



I. Sacciolepis contracta (Wight & Arn.). 



Panicum contractum Wight & Arn.; Steud. Syn. PL Glum. 1:84. 1854. 



Plants annual, glabrous throughout ; culms erect from a spreading and branching base, 

 30 to 60 cm. tall or even as much as i meter; blades flat, 5 to 10 cm. long, 3 to 6 mm. wide; 

 panicle spikelike, 4 to 8 cm. long, about 5 mm. thick ; spikelets 2.5 to 3 mm. long, rather 

 sparsely hispidulous on the upper half, the terete glabrous pedicels i to 2 mm. long; first glume 

 broad, nearly half as long as the spikelet, several-nerved ; second glume and sterile lemma equal 

 (fig. 90). 



A weed in moist fields ; introduced. Originally described from the East 

 Indies. 



Maui: Haiku, Hitchcock 14887. Olinda, Hitchcock 14910. 

 Hawaii: Glenwood, Hitchcock 14602, 14615. 



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