HITCHCOCK AlsTD CHASE — GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 299 



4. Eriochloa(subglabra (Nash) Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 208. 1909. 



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



Eriochloa punctata var. subglabra Urban, Symb. Antill. 4: 85. 1903. 



A stoloniferous perennial with erect flowering culms 1 to 2 meters tall, 

 bearded nodes, flat spreading blades, and terminal panicles of several to many 

 loosely ascending or spreading branches, the spikelets usually in pairs. 



Moist ground, swamps, and ditches, West Indies and Brazil. Originally de- 

 scribed from Porto Rico, the type being Heller 380, collected at Martin Pena. 

 In Porto Rico this species is confused with Para- grass, which it resembles in 

 habit, and the name " malojilla " is applied to both. The two species are not 

 infrequently found growing together. 



Jamaica (Savanna-la-Mar, Hitchcock 9859), Porto Rico, Trinidad, and Brazil. 



32. BKACHIARIA (Trin.) Griseb. 



Inflorescence of few to several rather thick racemes ; spikelets solitary, sub- 

 sessile, the back of the fruit turned from the rachis ; first glume well developed. 



1. Brachiaria platyphylla (Griseb.) Nash in Small, Fl. Southeast. U. S. 81. 



j^Paspalum platyphyllum Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 230. 1866. -X**/~ 5cJu±£t /* ^7 



Glabrous; culms ascending from a creeping base, rather freely branching; 

 blades flat, 5 to 10 cm. long, about 1 cm. wide; inflorescence included at base, 

 of 1 to 4 rather distant finally spreading racemes with a flat rachis and sessile 

 ovoid spikelets appearing to be in a single row. 



Sandy soil, Province of Pinar del Rio, Cuba, whence originally described. 

 In the Catalogue of the Grasses of Cuba 1 this species is referred to B. planta- 

 ginea. Subsequent collections of mature specimens show the Cuba species to 

 be distinct from B. plantaginea of the continent. 



Beachiaeia eetjcaefoemis (J. E. Smith) Griseb. in Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 4: 469. 

 1833. Panicum erucaeforme .T. E. Smith in Sibth. Fl. Graec. Prodr. 1 : 40. 1806. 

 There is in the U. S. National Herbarium a specimen of this species from 

 Barbados (Bot. Sta. Herb. 448). It may have been cultivated at the Botanic 

 Station. In the Krug and Urban Herbarium there is a specimen from the same 

 island collected by Eggers (no. 7095). 



33. AXONOPTJS Beauv. 



Inflorescence of 2 to many slender racemes, aggregated at the summit of the 

 culm ; spikelets depressed-biconvex, oblong-elliptic, solitary, subsessile, the back 

 of the fruit turned from the rachis ; first glume wanting ; sterile palea obsolete. 



Rachis bearing conspicuous stiff spreading - golden yellow chairs. (Section 

 Cabeeea. ) 

 Plants annual ; rachis over 1 mm. wide, extending beyond the spikelets. 



1. A. appendiculatus. 

 Plants perennial ; rachis slender, about 0.5 mm. wide, not extending beyond 



the spikelets 2. A. aureus. 



Rachis not bearing stiff hairs. (Axonopus proper.) 



Plants annual, the delicate racemes 2 or 3 3. A. capillaris. 



Plants perennial. 



Plants stoloniferous, the racemes 2 to 5 4. A. compressus. 



Plants erect, without stolons. 



1 Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 212. 1909. 



