292 CONTBIBUTIOBTS FEOM the national hekbarium. 



Lower panicle branches in a whorl; spikelets sparsely villous, the hairs 

 shorter than the spikelet 3. V. laxa. 



1. Valota eggersii (Hack.). 



Panicum eggersii Hack. Oesterr. Bot. Zeitschr. 51: 292. 1901. 

 A slender branching perennial, decumbent at base, with small flat puberulent 

 blades and panicles of 2 or 3 erect racemes 2 to 5 cm. long. 



Only known from the island of St. Thomas, the type specimen being Eggers 295. 



2. Valota insularis (L.) Chase, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 19: 188. 1906. 

 Andropogon insularis L. -Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 1304. 1759. 



Panicum lanatum Rottb. Act. Lit. Univ. Hafn. 1: 269. 1778. 



Milium villosum Swartz', Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 24. 1788. 



Panicum leucophaeum H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 97. 1816. 



Panicum insulare Meyer,; Prim. Fl. Esseq. 60. 1818. 



Trichachne insularis Nees, Agrost. Bras. 86. 1829. 



Saccharum polystachyum Sieb. ; Kunth, Enum. PI. 1: 124. 1833 1 ^-—~"'"' 



Panicum saccharoides A. Rich, in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 306. 1850. 



Panicum falsum Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1 : 67. 1854. 



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



Tricholaena insularis Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 557. 1864. 



Digitaria leucophaea Stapf in Thiselt. Dyer, Fl. Cap. 7: 382. 1898. 



Syntherisma insularis Millsp. & Chase, Field Mus. Bot. 1 : 473. 1902. 



Digitaria insularis Mez ; Ekman, Ark. for Bot. 13: 22. 1913. 



A rather coarse tufted weedy perennial, with sparsely hirsute sheaths, flat, 

 usually scabrous blades, and silky panicles tawny at maturity. 



Open ground and waste places in the Tropics and Subtropics of America at 

 low altitudes. The type locality of Andropogon insularis, of Panicum lanatum, 

 and of Milium villosum is Jamaica; of Saccharum polystachyum, Martinique; 

 of Panicum saccharoides and P. falsum, Cuba ; of P. duchaissingii, the island 

 of Guadeloupe. Panicum leucophaeum was described from Venezuela and Co- 

 lombia. Tims species is often called " sour-grass," a name which is occasionally 

 applied to other large unpalatable grasses such as species of Paspalum. In 

 Cuba it is one of the grasses called " barba de indio," and " rabo de zorra." 



To be found in probably all of the West Indian islands. 



3. Valota laxa (Reichenb.). 



Reimaria laxa Reichenb. ; Spreng. Tent. Suppl. Syst. "Veg. 2. 1828. 



Taller than the preceding, decumbent at base, the sheaths tuberculate-hispid, 

 the panicle larger, the long slender branches widely spreading at maturity. The 

 stiff hairs of the sheaths break off in handling and penetrate the skin. 



Open moist ground, southern West Indies to Paraguay. Originally described 

 from Surinam [Dutch Guiana]. 



Grenada, Trinidad, and Tobago. 



28. SYNTHERISMA Walt 



Spikelets in 2's or 3's, short-pedicellate in two rows along one side of a narrow 

 rachis, the slender racemes digitate or subdigitate; spikelets lanceolate or 

 elliptic ; first glume minute or obsolete ; fruit acute, the hyaline margins of the 

 lemma narrow. 



Rachis narrowly winged on the margins, appearing flat or flattened-triangular. 

 Pedicels with a ring of stiff hairs at the summit; spikelets with stripes of 



dense gland-tipped hairs 7. S. argyrostachya. 



Pedicels naked. 



