HITCHCOCK AND CHASE GEASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 275 



Desvaux Herbarium. The genus is an African one and the locality given is 

 probably an error as with many other Desvaux specimens. 1 



8. MANISURIS L. 



Sessile spikelets perfect, awnless, sunken in hollows in the thickened articu- 

 late joints of the rachis, the flat, often rugose, indurate first glume covering 

 the hollow ; pedicellate spikelet sterile, the pedicel thickened, appressed or 

 adnate to the rachis joint; racemes solitary. 



First glume wrinkled or furrowed ; •plattts-peieiiuial. 



Plants annual, branching f 1. M. exaltata. 



Plants perennial, simple<l'_ '. 4. M. leonina. 



First glume wrinkled or furrowed ; plants perennial. 



First glume winged 5. M. aurita. 



First glume not winged. 



First glume transversely wrinkled 2. M. loricata. 



First glume with 3 longitudinal furrows 3. M. impressa. 



1. Manisuris exaltata (L. f.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 779. 1891. Rice grass. 

 Rottboellia exaltata L. f. Suppl. PI. 114. 1781. 



Stegosia exaltata Nash, N. Amer. Fl. 17: 84. 1909. 

 f A stout branching leafy annual with hispid sheaths, long flat scabrous blades, 

 and numerous axillary racemes, the summit of these dwindling and bearing- 

 abortive spikelets only. 



A weed in moist soil, in several of the West Indian islands, introduced from 

 southern Asia. Originally described from India. 



Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Grenada, and Trinidad. 



2. Manisuris loricata (Trin.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 780. 1891. 

 Rottboellia loricata Trin. Mem. Acad. St. PStersb. VI. Math. Phys. Nat. 2: 



250. 1832. 



Rottboellia filifolia Wright, Anal. Acad. Cienc. Habana 8: 209. 1871. 



Coelorachis loricata Nash, N. Amer. Fl. 17: 85. 1909. 



A slender erect unbranched tufted perennial with narrow involute blades, 

 the solitary terminal raceme up to 25 cm. long. 



Pine barren swamps, western Cuba and Brazil. Originally described from 

 Serra da Lapa, Brazil. The type specimen of Rottboellia filifolia is Wright 3905, 

 collected at Dayaniguas, Cuba. 



3. Manisuris impressa (Griseb.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 780. 1891. 

 Rottboellia impressa Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 235. 1866. 

 Coelorachis impressa Nash, N. Amer. Fl. 17: 85. 1909. 



Stouter than the preceding, 1 meter or more tall, the culm branching, bear- 

 ing terminal and axillary racemes 10 to 15 cm. long. 



Only known from the type collection, Wright 3904, from El Salado, Cuba. 



4. Manisuris leonina sp. nov. 



Plants perennial in small tufts from slender hard rhizomes, glabrous through- 

 out except as noted ; culms erect, 60 to 75 cm. tall, rather rigid, branching, the 

 branches erect, the internodes flat or concave on one side ; sheaths overlapping 

 on the lower part of the culm, the upper shorter than the internodes, usually 

 stiffly ciliate at the summit; blades narrower than the summit of the sheath, 

 10 to 45 cm. long, subterete, erect, the summit loosely curled ; racemes 5 to 10 

 cm. long, terete, about 2 mm. thick,- purplish, the joints 4 to 5 mm. long ; fertile 



*See Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan. 6: 274. 1889; Hitchcock & Chase, Contr. 

 U. S. Nat. Herb. 15: 38. 166. 1910. 



