g2 A FLOEA OP MANILA 



2. Sessile splkelets all alike. 

 3. Rachis-joints and pedicels with a median, translucent, longitudinal 



line; spikes peduncled, paniculate 5. A. intermedius 



3. Rachis-joints and pedicels without median translucent lines. 

 4. Spikes with only 3 spikelets, the tips of the branches bearded; a 



slender grass 6. A. aciculatua 



4. Spikes with many spikelets, the tips of the branches not bearded; 

 coarse grasses. 

 5. First glume muricate; internodes of the rachia laterally com- 

 pressed _ ; 7. A. zizanioides 



5. First glume not muricate; internodes of the rachis terete or 

 subterete. 

 6. Leaves about 1 cm wide or less. 



7. Flowering-glume long-awned 8. A. serratus 



7. Flowering-glume awnless _ 9. A. nitidus 



6. Leaves mostly 2 to 5 cm wide. 



7. Rachis tenacious; spikelets awned or awnless; panicles 

 dense; an annual grass, cultivated only.... 10. A. sorg}:um 

 7. Rachis fragile; panicles lax; spikelets awnless; perennial. 



11. A. halepensis 

 1. A. ciTRATUS DC. (§ Cymbopogon. ) Tanglad (Tag.) ; Paja de meca 



(Sp.) ; Lemon Grass. 

 A tufted perennial grass, the leaves up to 1 m in length, 1 to 1.4 cm 

 wide, when crushed with a strong lemon-like odor, scabrous, flat, long- 

 acuminate, glabrous. Panicles 30 to 80 cm long, interrupted below, the 

 branches and branchlets somewhat nodding. Perfect spikelets linear-lan- 

 ceolate, pointed, not awned, about 6 mm long. 



Frequently cultivated for its fragrant leaves which are used for flavoring 

 food, the source of "Lemon grass oil" of commerce; widely but not exten- 

 sively cultivated in the Philippines, but not spontaneous, very rarely 

 flowering. Certainly not a native of the Archipelago, but probably of 

 prehistoric introduction. Origin uncertain, but probably India or Malaya, 

 now cultivated in most tropical countries. 



2. A. fragills R. Br. (§ Schizachyrium . ) 



A slender annual, the erect or ascending, simple or slightly branched 

 stems 15 to 40 cm high, glabrous, leafy throughout, usually more or less 

 decumbent at the base. Leaves linear or linear-oblong, blunt or acute, 3 

 to 7 cm long, 2 to 4 mm wide. Spikes solitary, fragile, the peduncle en- 

 closed^ in a narrow, spathe-like leaf-sheath. Spikelets 4 to 5 mm long, 

 the slender.awn of the sessile spikelet somewhat geniculate, about 1.5 cm in 

 length. 



In thin, poor soil, Open, dry grass lands, San Pedro Macati, etc., fl. 

 Nov.-Feb.; of local occurrence in the Philippines. Queensland and New 

 South Wales. 



3. A. serlceus R. Br. (§ Dichanthiurn. ) 



A slender, erect, annual grass, 0.4 to 1 m high, the nodes bearded, the 

 leaves linear-lanceolate, 5 to 12 cm long, 2 to 4 mm vdde. Spikes 2 to 4, 

 sessile, digitately arranged at the ends of the stems, 3 to € cni long, densely 

 villous with long white hairs. Spikelets crowded, 4 to 5 mm long, the 

 awns geniculatfe, 2 to 2.5 cm long. 



