182 Chase — Notes on Genera of Panicese. III. 



swollen or gibbous on the back, so as to appear in side view half obcordate- 

 truncate, the margins inrolled over a narrow palea; grain laterally sub- 

 compressed, inclosed in the lemma and palea. Staminate spikelets nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, reduced to the thin-membranaceous lemma and palea 

 and 3 stamens. Caespitose, herbaceous, perennials with simple culms 

 and blades contracted at base and convolute in the bud as in Olyra. 

 Only two species known to us (O. flaccida Doell may belong here), con- 

 fined to the tropics and subtropics of America. 



While neither the laterally-compressed gibbous fruit nor the axillary 

 inflorescence alone would afford sufficient reason for recognizing Lithachne 

 as a genus, these being combined and constant, together with a habit 

 distinct from that of Olyra, and the fact that there are no intermediate 

 species (so far as known), seem to make generic rank the more natural 

 disposition of these forms. 



Lithachne pauciflora (Sw.) Beauv. 



Olyra pauciflora Sw. 1788, Prod. 21. (See above. ) 



Olyra axillaris Lam. 1797. Encyc. 4 : f>47. " a Caienne * * * Richard 

 (V. s)" " ham. illust. t. 751 f. 2," is cited. The published date of the 

 part in which this plate occurs is 1*2:5, but according to Sherborn and 

 Woodward * plates 1-100 were published in 1791; 700 in 1707; 901-950 

 in 1810. Evidently some of the plates were printed some time before 

 they were issued. We have not seen the type but the plate referred to 

 above is unmistakable. 



Lithachne axillaris Beauv. 1812, Agros. 166 t. 24, !'. 11. No type 

 indicated, presumably based on Olyra axillaris Lam. 



Lithacne pauciflora Beauv.; 1823, Poir. Diet. Sci. Nat. 27 : 60. Two 

 varieties of this species have been described by Kuntze ( Lev. (Jen. '.\ : 2 357) 

 from Bolivia. 



Lithachne pineti (Wright). 



Olyra pineti Wright 1N02; Griseb. Mem. Acad. Amer. Sci. Art. 

 8:532. "Prope .Monte Verde, inter pinorum folia dejecta 1536" 

 [Wright, Cuba). The type is in the Grisebach herbarium; a duplicate in 

 the Gray herbarium is a tuft of numerous very slender culms. Besides 

 the label the latter sheet hears a slip in Wright's hand " Olyra Pineti. 

 Growing among masses of fallen pine leaves near .Mr. l'revals, M. V., 

 [Monte Verde] Aug. 22." 



A delicate species apparently known only from the Wright collection. 



Genus RADDIA Bertol. L819, Bologn. Opusc. Sc. )! : 410. 



" Flores masculi in racemis distinctis, superioribus. Calyx uniflorus, 

 biglumis, glumis acuminatis, muticis. Corolla nulla. Filamenta brevis- 

 sima. Antherae lineares longae. 



"Flores foeminei in spicis distinctis, inferioribus. Calyx unifloris 

 biglumis, patens, gluma altera longiore, aristata. Corolla biglumis, 

 mutica, stylus simplicissimus." 



* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 17 : 582, 1906. 



