392 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



agree with Nees's description of Eragrostis purpurascens * and with the Sello 

 specimen cited by him. 



18. Eragrostis prolifera (Swartz) Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 278. 1854. 



Poa prolifera Swartz, Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 27. 1788. 



Poa domingensis Pers. Syn. PI. 1: 88. 1805. 



Eragrostis gigantea Trin. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. Math. Phys. Nat. 1: 

 403. 1830. 



Eragrostis domingensis Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 278. 1854. 



Eragrostis excelsa Griseb. Cat. PI. Cub. 227. 1866. 



Culms often in large clumps, erect, sometimes stoloniferous, commonly robust, 

 as much as 2 meters tall, the branches sometimes fascicled ; blades elongate, 

 involute toward the ends; panicles large, open, or somewhat contracted, the 

 spikelets pale, usually many-flowered. Specimens of this species from the 

 West Indies rarely show indication of stolons, and the branches are but 

 sparingly fascicled. At Cartagena, Colombia, where the species is abundant 

 on the sand spit, the plants develop extensive stolons with tufts of branches, 

 suggesting the name " prolifera." 



Sandy soil near the coast, West Indies and northern South America. Poa 

 prolifera was originally described from " Insulae caribaeae." Swartz later 2 

 gives as the localities, " Lucia, Guadeloupe." Poa domingensis and E. gigantea 

 were described from Santo Domingo and E. excelsa from Cuba, the type being 

 Wright 3425 from Toscana, Pinar del Rio. 



Bahamas (Whale Cay), central and western Cuba, Grand Cayman, south- 

 eastern Jamaica, Haiti, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. 



94. SENITES Adans. 



Spikelets few to several-flowered, the lowest floret perfect, the others stami- 

 nate, the rachilla joint between the perfect and staminate florets elongate; 

 glumes and fertile lemma herbaceous, broad, with transverse veins between the 

 nerves, obtuse or truncate, the glumes about half as long as the lemma ; sterile 

 lemmas membranaceous, narrower, acute. 



Culms upright at the base; summit of the sheaths glabrous 1. S. zeugites. 



Culms trailing; summit of the sheaths as well as of the petioles bearing stiff 

 hairs - 2. S. haitiensis. 



1. Senites zeugites (L.) Nash; Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 127. 1908. 

 Apluda zeugites L. Syst. Nat. ed. 10. 2 : 1306. 1759. 



Zeugites jamaicensis Raeuschel, Nom. Bot. ed. 3. 270. 1797, nomen nudum. 



Zeugites americana Willd. Sp. PI. 4: 204. 1805. 



A loosely tufted branching glabrous clambering perennial 0.5 to 1 meter tall ; 

 culms glossy brown or black, resembling fern stipes; blades on slender, often 

 spreading petioles, ovate, 2.5 to 4 cm. long; panicles mostly 5 to 7 cm. long, 

 loosely flowered, the branches and pedicels capillary ; glumes and fertile lemma 

 truncate. 



Rich woods, above 1,000 meters altitude. Blue Mountains, Jamaica. De- 

 scribed from Jamaica. 



2. Senites haitiensis (Pilger). 



Zeugites americana subsp. haitiensis Pilger in Urban, Symb. Antill. 6: 3. 1909. 



Culms very slender, trailing, rooting at the nodes ; blades ovate, about 2 cm. 



long; glumes and fertile lemma abruptly tapering at summit. Known only 



*Agrost. Bras. 506. 1829. a Fl. Ind. Occ. 1: 216. 1797. 



