Chase — Notes on Genera of Panicese. III. 177 



Genus OLYRA L. May, June, 1759, Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 1261. 



" Masc. Cal. Gluma uniflora, aristata, Cor. Gluma mutica. 



"Fern. Cal. Gluma uniflora, patula, ovata. Stylus 2-fidus. Sem. carti- 



lagineurn; 

 " latifolia A. Olyra. Sloan, jam. t. 64. f. 2." 



The figure referred to in Sloane represents the upper portion of a culm 

 with three leaves and a short exserted panicle, large spikelets on clavate 

 pedicels at the ends of the branches and small spikelets along the same 

 branches from the base. The polynomial given is " Gramen paniceum 

 majus, spica simplici laevi, granis petriolis insidentibus." 



The type, from which the figure was made, is in the Sloane herbarium. 

 The specimen in the Linnaean herbarium, from Jamaica, marked " Br " 

 [Browne! agrees with the Sloane specimen. In Pugill. Jam. PI. 408. 

 Dec. 1759, Linnaeus gives a description of the species 0. latifolia. 

 Mapira Adans. 1763, Fam. 2 : 39. 



" Couronne de la gaine des feuilles: Membrane courte. Fleurs: Pani- 

 cule & epi. Calice: 1 fleur, 2 bales & 1 arSte. Corolle: 2 bales." 



In the "table" or index, page 574, under" Mapira Adans 39" is cited 

 "Gramen. Sloan, t. 64. f. 2. Olyra. Lin." This is the figure upon which 

 Linnaeus bases Olyra latifolia. 



Description. — Spikelets unisexual, unlike in appearance, the staminate 

 and pistillate together in panicles terminating the culm or leafy branches, 

 the pistillate spikelets on clavate pedicels on the upper panicle branches 

 or at the ends of the branches, the staminate spikelets on 

 slender pedicels or subsessile on the lower branches or on 

 the lower part of the pistillate branches ; pistillate spike- 

 lets ovate-lanceolate, usually setaceous pointed, first glume 

 wanting, second glume and sterile lemma membranaceous, 

 nerved, acuminate-setaceous (or long-acuminate only in 

 0. lonr/ifolia H. B. K.), the glume longer pointed than 

 the lemma; fruit elliptic, lemma and palea thick, bony- 

 indurated at maturity, the margins of the lemma scarcely 

 lg '}' inrolled; grain dorsally subcompressed, enclosed in the 



lemma and palea ; staminate spikelets readily deciduous, 

 much smaller than the pistillate, narrowly lanceolate, glumes and sterile 

 lemma wanting, lemma and palea thin membranaceous, the lemma 3-, 

 the palea 2-nerved. Woody, bamboo-like perennials with ample blades 

 abruptly narrowed into petiole-like bases, convolute in the bud before 

 expanding, the consequent creases permanent and conspicuous in the 

 mature blades. Species about twenty, confined to the tropics and sub- 

 tropics of America except a form of 0. latifolia L. or a close ally which is 

 found in South Africa, and a form distantly related to 0. micrantha 

 H. B. K. in the Fiji Islands. 

 The known species fall into three rather well-marked groups. 



1. Panicle branches with elliptical or lanceolate, setaceous-pointed, pis- 

 tillate spikelets above, staminate spikelets below ; glumes glabrous or 

 nearly so. 



