No. 8. 



STENOTAPHRUM AMERICANUM Schrank. 



Rootstock .apparently creeping. Roots fibrous-branched. 



Culms creeping and rooting at the nodes, or procumbent, from 2 feet long to 

 very short, simple or with a few main branches, glabrous, enlarged at the nodes, 

 and there provided with a short sterile branch or fascicle of leaves. 



Leaves of the stem several, pale green; sheaths glabrous, or slightly ciliate on 

 the margin above, usually loose and not contiguous; blade 2 to 3 lines wide, from 

 8 inches long to very short, flat, thick (nerves obscure, midrib prominent beneath), 

 glabrous, abruptly rounded at the apex, rarely acute; ligule minute, densely fim- 

 briate. 



Inflorescence a usually sheathed spike terminating the stem and main branches ; 

 rachis thickened and enlarged (reaching 3 lines in dianieter and 4 inches in length) ; 

 spikelets embedded singly sessile, or with 1 to 3 additional short-pedicellate ones, 

 at each joint, arranged along 2 nearly opposite sides of the rachis but facing 

 one way. 



Spikelets lanceolate-ovate, 1| to 2£ lines long. 



Glumes 4; first membranaceous, hyaline, small, nerveless, and obtuse or some- 

 times one-half the length of the spikelet; second membranaceous, 7- to 11-nerved, 

 ovate, acute, as long as the spikelet, empty; third similar in form, somewhat cori- 

 aceous, but 5-nerved, subtending a flower; fourth like the third, but more coriaceous, 

 also subtending a flower. 



Flowers 2. Lower staminate; stamens 3; palet coriaceous below, 2-nerved. 

 Upper flower hermaphrodite; stamens 3; stigmas 2, cylindrical or club-shaped. 



Plate VIII; figure below at the right, joint of the rachis showing 2 spike- 

 lets, the lower sessile, the upper pedicelled; at the left, spikelet opened to show the 

 parts. In the flower 'on the right, which is the hermaphrodite one, the stigmas 

 should be twice as long and proportionally broader. The stamens have matured 

 earlier and are not shown. 



This grass grows in sandy land especially near the sea-coast. It has strong 

 creeping roots, which render it capable of enduring great drought. It has been 

 recommended in Florida as a very valuable pasture grass. 



