298 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



1. Mesosetum loliiforme (Hoclist.) Chase, Bot. Gaz. 51: 302. 1911. 

 Panicum loliiforme Hochst. ; Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 56. 1854. 



A slender tufted erect or ascending perennial with yellowish green hirsute 

 foliage, the blades flat, narrow, often elongate, the pale flattened spike 6 to 12 

 cm. long. 



Sandy pine woods, Cuba (Province of Pinar del Rio and Isle of Pines) and 

 northern South America. Originally described from Surinam. 



2. Mesosetum wrightii Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 211. 1909. 

 Perennial, the slender culm ascending from a creeping base, the short flat 



blades sparsely hirsute, the spikes 3 to 4 cm. long. 



Sandy pine woods, Cuba (Dayaniguas, Pinar del Rio, Wright 3859, the type;- 

 Placetas del Sur, Santa Clara, Leon 6430). 



31. ERIOCHLOA H. B. K. 



Inflorescence of few to many racemes along a common axis ; spikelets subses- 

 sile, solitary, the back of the fruit turned from the slender rachis ; internode of 

 the rachilla between the first and second glumes thickened, forming a ringlike 

 base to the spikelet, the first glume usually reduced to an obscure sheath adnate 

 to the ring; fruit minutely papillose-rugose, mucronate-pointed or with a deli- 

 cate, often deciduous awn. 



Blades filiform 1. E. filifolia. 



Blades flat, 2 to 15 mm. wide. 



* Spikelets acute ; first glume present 4. E. subglabra. 



Spikelets long-acuminate ; first glume obsolete. 



Fruit tipped with a slender awn 1 mm. long ; spikelets 4 to 5 mm. 



long 3. E. punctata. 



Fruit merely apiculate ; spikelets 3 mm. long 2. E. ramosa. 



1. Eriochloa filifolia Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 207. 1909. 



A low tufted perennial with filiform culms and blades and small panicles of 

 2 or 3 short racemes of acuminate silky spikelets. 



Sterile hills, Cuba, the type collected by Hitchcock on the Jata Hills, the only 

 locality known for the species. 



2. Eriochloa ramosa (Retz.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 775. 1891. 

 Milium ramosum Retz. Obs.-Bot. 6: 22. 1791. 



Eriochloa annulata Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1: 30. 1829. 



A slender ascending glabrous annual with sparingly branching culms, linear 

 blades 2 to 5 mm. wide, and pale panicles of few to several erect or ascend- 

 ing racemes; spikelets silkyj p^^ttlS U^-Ktv^ f-O*^ Yifi^iTL^. 



Introduced in Cuba (Zaza, Leon 852). Originally described from India. 



3. Eriochloa punctata (L.) Desv. ; Hamilt. Prodr. PI. Ind. Occ. 5. 1825. 

 Milium punctatum L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2: 872. 1759. 



Oedipachne punctata Link, Hort. Berol. 1: 51. 1827. 



Helopus punctatus Nees, Agrost. Bras. 16. 1829. 



Monachne punctata Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 30: 374. 1903. 



Larger than the preceding, usually 1 meter or more tall; blades up to 15 

 mm. wide, the panicles with several to many ascending branches. 



Swamps and ditches, southern United States through the West Indies and 

 eastern Mexico to Brazil. Originally described from Jamaica. 



Cuba, Jamaica, Santo Domingo, Porto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Tortola, 

 Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, 

 Barbados, Trinidad, and Tobago. 



