No. 4. 

 PASPALUM LIVIDUM Triii. 



Plant perennial, coarse, somewhat tufted on a short rootstock. 



Culms few in a place, erect, or decumbent, geniculate below, solid, terete, 2 to 

 ;> i'eet tall. 



Leaves; radical mostly scarious; of culm to 0; sheaths equaling- or exceeding 

 internode, loose, often compressed and open, lower ones often pubescent; blades 

 fiat, hispid above and below toward the tip, 3 lines wide, 2 to 6 inches long; ligule 

 a tawny, lacerate, membranaceous fringe, i line long, decurrent. 



Inflorescence a racemose panicle of 4 to 8 approximate spikes, alternate on the 

 flattened axis, 2 to 4 inches long; spikes unilateral, sessile, 1 to 1-]- inches long; 

 rachis flat and smooth, ^ line wide, usually purplish. 



Spikelets crowded, usually in -4 rows, sessile or on short pedicels, oblanceolate, 

 flatfish, 1-flowered, 1 to 1^ lines long; first glume broadly ovate, acute, slightly 

 convex, slightly roughened on back. 3-nerved, lateral nerves marginal and joining 

 midnerve at apex, 1 line long; second glume same but flat and slightly smaller; 

 floral glume, indurated, round on back, with inrolled margins, very obscurely 

 o-nerved, f line long; palet broadly oval, indurated, nearly flat, with irregular, 

 hyaline margins below enfolding the seed, obscurely 2-nerved. nearly 1 line long. 



Grain; a careful search through 18 specimens produced but one perfect grain 

 and that immature, but old enough to show the form, obovate, rounded, flattened 

 on both sides | line long. 



Plate IV; a, first empty glume; b, second empty glume; c, floral glume, 

 stamens, and pistil ; <1, palet, ventral view, with two membranaceous lobes turned out. 



Found in southwestern Texas; common in Mexico. 



