Chase — Notes on Genera of Panicese. III. 183 



But one species is given : 



" Racldia Brasiliensis. 



" Habitat in provincia di Rio Janeiro Brasiliae, v. s." 



The specimen was collected by Raddi since Bertoloni states that the 

 specific name will commemorate the courageous voyage to Brazil of Raddi 

 to whom the genus is dedicated. The author remarks that tins genus 

 serves to unite Coix with Olyra. 



The whereabouts of Bertoloni's type, if it be in existence, is not known. 

 In the Trinius herbarium is a specimen from Bahia, Brazil, collected by 

 Riedel, labeled Olyra floribunda, Raddi by Trinius, and the original of 

 plate 345 in the Rones which agrees well with Bertoloni's description. 



Raddi (1823, Agros. Bras. 20) redescribes what is evidently a specimen 

 from the same collection under the name " Olyra floribunda * * * nob" 

 and gives Raddia brasiliensis Bert, as a synonym. " Reperitur ad radi- 

 cem Montis Corcovado, nee alibi." [Mt. Corcovado is some three miles 

 southwest of Rio Janeiro.] Raddi's type has not been examined. Nees 

 says that nothing but the description remains, but search among Raddi's 

 Brasilian collections in the herbarium of the botanical garden of Pisa 

 may bring it to light. The two descriptions apply so well to Trinius' speci- 

 men that there is no doubt that this species was correctly interpreted by 

 Trinius. 



Sprengel (1827, Syst. 4: Cur. Post. 29) transfers R. brasiliensis Bertol. to 

 Olyra without comment. 



Nees (1829, Agros. Bras. 309) includes 0. floribunda in Olyra with the 

 following observation: "De hac specie, ad Lithachnas, Pal. de Beauv., 

 cum Olyra pauciflora Sw. referenda, praeter verba Raddiana nihil super- 

 est, quod ad feramus." The description states that the pistillate spikelets 

 are in distinct axillary racemes, but does not mention the form of the 

 floret. 



Strephium Schrad. 1829, in Nees Agros. Bras. 298. 



"Spiculae uniflorae, muticae; mascftlae et foemineae in distinctis race- 

 mis ejusdem plantae. Spiculae masculae: calycis glumae duae, lineari- 

 lanceolatae; inferior acuminata; corollinae valvulae nullae. Foeminaea 

 spiculae: calycinae glumae duae, ovato-lanceolatae, acuminatae; valvulae 

 totidem, cartilagineae. *** Inflorescentia : Racemi, axillares, pauciflori. 

 Culmi caespitosi, foliis subdistichis. 



"Observ. Genus hocce Olyrae proximum, sed diversum foliatione, spic- 

 ularum dispositione axillari, floribus masculis superius positis atque glu- 

 marum structura et proportione. Schrad." 



This is based on a single species, Strephium distichophyllum "Schrad. 

 ined." We have not seen the type of this, but the description applies so 

 well to Olyra polypodioides Trin. that it must be a close ally of that species 

 (the type, of which, also from Bahia, Brazil, was examined in the Trinius 

 herbarium at the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences), as stated by Trin- 

 ius (1835, Mem. Acad. Petersb. Ser. VI, 3: 2 117). Nees' description of 

 Olyra floribunda Raddi (I.e.) would place this species in Strephium instead 

 of in Olyra, but he had not seen 0. floribunda and possibly Schrader's 

 genus and species were inserted on Schrader's authority only without 



