HITCHCOCK AND CHASE — GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES. 343 



Mountain meadows, Haiti, Santo Domingo (Rio Yaque), Saba, Guadeloupe, 

 and Martinique. Originally described from Santo Domingo. 



5. Isachne angustifolia Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 30: 377. 1903. 



Culms often 2 meters long, hard and wiry with a long naked base, branching 

 from the upper nodes, the branches long, leafy, nearly parallel, bearing sec- 

 ondary branches toward the ends, the whole forming a wide flabellate or loosely 

 corymbose mass, in its most characteristic development pushing through the 

 Jungle of stream bank or trail side and hanging over the bushes ; blades firm, 

 divergent, 5 to 12 cm. long, 5 to 10 mm. wide, paler beneath ; panicles commonly 

 10 to 12 cm. long, about half as wide. 



Rocky slopes among brush, Porto Rico (at higher altitudes) and Guadeloupe. 

 Type specimen Wilson 160, collected on the summit of El Yunque, Luquillo 

 Mountains, Porto Rico. 



6. Isachne arundinacea (Swartz) Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 553. 1864. 

 Panicum arundinaceum Swartz, Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 24. 1788. 

 Isachne panicea Trin. Gram. Pan. 253. 1826. 



Climbing among shrubs or small trees to a height of as much as 6 meters, 

 with strong canes and elongate branches ; blades commonly 20 cm. long and 1.5 

 to 2 cm. wide, scabrous ; panicles about 12 cm. long, the long lower branches at 

 first ascending, finally wide-spreading ; spikelets crowded toward the ends of the 

 branches. 



Wooded hillsides, Jamaica at an altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 meters ; also Mexico 

 to northern South America. Originally described from Jamaica. 



7. Isachne disperma (Lam.) Doell in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 2 : 274. 1877. 

 Panicum dispermum Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1: 173. 1791. 



Panicum multi-nerve Desv. ; Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 4: 279. 1816. 



Isachne dubia Kunth, Rev. Gram. 1 : 42. 1829. 



Similar to the preceding, the blades larger, smooth, the panicles larger, the 

 spikelets scattered. 



Mountain woods, Lesser Antilles. Originally described from tropical America. 

 There is nothing on the label of the type specimen to indicate its origin. Pani- 

 cum multmerve is described from the Antilles. The label of the type specimen 

 indicates that the plant came from Porto Rico. As the species has not since 

 been collected upon that island, the locality may be doubted. 



St. Kitts, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Vincent, Grenada, and 

 Tobago. 



8. Isachne polygonoides (Lam.) Doell in Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 2 : 273. 1877. 

 Panicum polygonoides Lam. Encycl. 4: 742. 1798. 



Panicum trachyspermum Nees, Agrost. Bras. 212. 1829. 



Isachne trachysperma Nees in Seem. Bot. Voy. Herald 224. 1857. 



Flowering shoots 20 to 30 cm. tall, erect from a long creeping, freely branch- 

 ing culm, rooting at the nodes, the whole plant often a meter in length, the erect 

 shoots finally bearing fascicled branchlets, the sheaths hispid, the spreading 

 lanceolate-ovate blades very scabrous ; panicles included at base, about 5 cm. 

 long and as broad, loosely many-flowered. 



Moist ground, Central America and Trinidad (Piarco Savanna) to Brazil. 

 Originally described from Cayenne. Panicum trachyspermum was described 

 from Brazil. 



43. OPLISMENUS Beauv. 



Inflorescence of several thick racemes along a common axis; spikelets sub- 

 sessile; glumes and sterile lemma awned or mucronate; fruit as in Panicum, 

 acute. 



