382 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



be found on all the West Indian islands. In Cuba called " pata de gallina " 

 and " grama de caballo." 



84. DACTYLOCTENIUM Willd. 



Spikelets as in Eleusine, but the glumes and lemmas mucronate or awn- 

 tipped ; apex of the rachis extending as a point beyond the spikelets. 



1. Dactyloctenium aegyptium (L.) Richt. PI. Eur. 1: 68. 18^. 



Crowfoot grass. 



Cynosurus aegyptius L. Sp. PI. 72. 1753. 



Dactyloctenium meridionale Hamilt. Prodr. PI. Ind. Occ. 6. 1825. 



A weedy stoloniferous, more or less pilose annual, often forming dense mats, 

 the flat culms 10 to 50 cm. long, the blades flat, usually short, the spikes 2 to 

 4, short, thick, radiate at the apex of the culm. 



Open ground and waste places. A common weed in warm countries. Intro- 

 duced in America ; originally described from "Africa, Asia, America." To be 

 found on all the West Indian islands. In Cuba called " pata de gallina." 



85. LEPTOCHLOA Beauv. 1 



Spikelets few to many-flowered, short-pedicellate, appressed, loosely imbri- 

 cate along a narrow rachis, forming slender racemes, these numerous in an 

 elongate panicle; glumes and lemmas keeled, the lemmas 3-nerved. 



Plants annual. 



Sheaths, at least the upper, papillose-hispid 1. L. filiformis. 



Sheaths glabrous. 



Spikes distinctly unilateral, numerous and crowded in a narrow elon- 

 gate inflorescence; sheaths minutely scabrous 2. L.scabra. 



Spikes indistinctly unilateral, few to several in a somewhat flabellate 

 inflorescence; sheaths smooth. 



Lemmas bearing a delicate awn 3. L. fascicularis. 



Lemmas awnless or minutely mucronate 4. L. uninervia. 



Plants perennial. 



Spikes slender, 15 to 20 cm. long, the spikelets rather distant ; collar densely 



hirsute 8. L. longa. 



Spikes mostly less than 10 cm. long, the spikelets crowded ; collar glabrous 

 or slightly pubescent. 

 Spikes 2 to 3 cm. long, appressed in a long narrow inflorescence ; lemmas 



awnless . 5. L. nealleyi. 



Spikes mostly over 5 cm. long, somewhat flexuous and spreading in an 



oblong or flabellate inflorescence ; lemmas mucronate or awned. 



Sheaths and blades glabrous, usually somewhat glaucous; awnless 



or the awns shorter than body of lemma 6. L. virgata. 



Sheaths sparsely papillose-hispid ; blades sparsely villous on the 

 upper surface near the base ; awns or some of them about as 

 long as their lemmas 7. L. domingensis. 



1. Leptochloa filiformis (Lam.) Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 71, 166. 1812. 

 Festuca filiformis Lam. Tabl. Encycl. 1: 191. 1791. 

 Eleusine mucronata Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 65. 1803. 

 Rabdochloa? mucronata Beauv. Ess. Agrost. 84, 176. 1812. 



1 For an account of the North American species see A. S. Hitchcock, North 

 American species of Leptochloa. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. PI. Ind. Bull. 33. 1903. 



