HITCHCOCK AND CHASE — GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 291 



genus, probably lacking material for verification of Grisebach's description. 

 Hackel places the genus in Oryzeae, and elsewhere describes a specimen of 

 A. piptostachya as Arthropogon stipitatus, giving so clear and detailed a de- 

 scription as to leave no doubt of its identity. Grisebach states that there is but 

 1 stamen ; we find 3, as did Hackel in the plant he described under Arthropogon. 

 Achlaena is closely allied to the South American Arthropogon or is possibly 

 congeneric. 



1. Achlaena piptostachya Griseb. Cat. Pi. Cub. 229. 1866. 



Arthropogon stipitatus Hack. Sitzungsb. Akad. Wiss. Math. Naturw. (Wien) 

 89 1 : 125. 1S84. 



A tufted perennial with stiffly erect culms 0.5 to 1 meter tall, elongate linear 

 firm blades mostly clustered toward the base, and a long-exserted panicle, the 

 fascicled branches stiffly spreading or reflexed at maturity, the long-awned 

 spikelets borne toward the ends. 



Open ground, Cuba and Jamaica. Originally described from Cuba, the type 

 being Wright 3487. The type of Arthropogon stipitatus was collected in Cuba 

 by Sagra. 



Cuba (Province of Pinar del Rio and Isle of Pines) and Jamaica (Dolphin 

 Head, Britton & Rollick 2194). 



26. LEPTOCORYPHIUM Nees. 



Spikelets in narrow panicles; first glume wanting; sterile lemma empty, this 

 and the second glume hairy ; fertile lemma and palea brown with a white 

 hyaline, somewhat lacerate or ciliate summit, open at maturity. 



1. Leptocoryphium lanatum (H. B. K.) Nees, Agrost. Bras. 84. 1829. 



Paspalum lanatum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 94. pi. 29. 1816. 



Milium lanatum Roem. & Schult. Syst. Veg. 2: 322. 1817. 



Panicum fusciflorum Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 93. 1854. 



Anthaenantia lanata Benth. Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. 19: 39. 1881. 



A slender erect unbranched tufted perennial up to 1 meter tall, with long 

 narrow often involute blades, and loose many-flowered oblong panicles with 

 capillary branchlets and silky-pilose spikelets, the hairs at first appressed, at 

 maturity spreading. 



% Dry hills and pine barrens, southern Mexico and the West Indies to northern 

 South America. Originally described from Mexico. The type locality of 

 Panicum fusciflorum is French Guiana. 



Cuba, Porto Rico (Mayaguez), 1 and Trinidad. 



27. VALOTA Adans. 



Spikelets in pairs, short-pedicellate in 2 rows along one side of a narrow 

 rachis, the slender racemes aggregated in a narrow or flabellate panicle ; spike- 

 lets lanceolate, clothed with long silky hairs ; first glume minute ; fruit acumi- 

 nate, brown with broad white hyaline margins. 



Racemes few, usually about 3 ; blades short, mostly not over 3 cm. long ; plants 



20 to 40 cm. tall 1. V. eggersii. 



Racemes numerous ; blades elongate ; plants usually more than 50 cm. tall. 



Lower panicle branches in a fascicle on one side of the axis ; spikelets 

 densely clothed with tawny or brown silky hairs much exceeding the 

 spikelet 2. V. insularis. 



1 Names of places in Porto Rico are here spelled without diaereses and accents, 

 following the usage of the United States Postal Guide. 



