96 A FLORA OF MANILA 



dense, cylindric, 2 to 10 cm long, erect or somewhat nodding, yellowish or 

 purplish, about 1.5 cm in diameter including the numerous, usually spread- - 

 ing bristles. Spikelets 2 mm long, the flowering glume distinctly trans- 

 versely rugose. 



In open, rather dry grass lands, San Pedro Macati, Masambong, etc., 

 fl. July-Dec; widely distributed in the Philippines. India to southern 

 China, Malaya, and Polynesia. 



3. S. laxa Merr. 



A tufted, lax, spreading or ascending, branched, nearly glabrous plant, 

 the stems slender, reaching a length of 1.2 m or less. Leaves thin, nar- 

 rowly lanceolate, acuminate, 6 to 25 cm long, 6 to 10 mm wide. Panicles 

 long-exserted, lax, 10 to 30 cm long, the branches remote, spreading or 

 ascending, slender, branched from near the base, the lower ones up to 10 

 cm long. Spikelets scattered, solitary, pedicelled, green or purplish, about 

 2 mm long, the involucre reduced to a solitary, slender, scabrid awn, 6 to 

 10 mm in length, terminating the branches, branchlets, and also on most 

 of the pedicels. 



In thickets, opposite Guadalupe, Pasig etc., fl. Nov.-Jan.; at present 

 known from but few localities in Luzon, but with a very closely allied if 

 not identical form in Java. 



27. CHAMAERAPHIS R. Brown 



Prostrate, glabrous, marsh or aquatic grasses. Leaves flat, linear or 

 lanceolate. Spikelets narrowly lanceolate, 1- or 2-flowered, subsessile and 

 somewhat secund in spike-like branches that are racemosely arranged in a 

 simple panicle, the branches produced beyond the upper spikelet as a 

 slender awn. Glumes 4, the first very small, truncate, thin, the second 

 longest, acuminate or narrowed into a slender awn, the third lanceolate, 

 acute or awned-acuminate, enclosing a palea and a male or neuter flower, 

 the fourth small, oblong, thin, enclosing a female or perfect flower. (Greek 

 "ground" and "needle," in allusion to the awns.) 



Species about 6, tropical Asia to Australia, 1 in the Philippines. 



1. C. aspera (Koen.) Nees. 



Stems elongated, floating, branched, often 1 to 2 m in length, the flower- 

 ing branches ascending, 20 to 30 cm long. Leaves linear-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, 5 to 10 cm long, 3 to 6 wide. Panicles exserted, pyramidal, open, 

 6 to 11 cm long, the branches rather few, spreading, 2 to 5 cm long. Spike- 

 lets few or many, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 6 to 7 mm long. 



In pools of stagnant water, local, fl. Aug.-Jan.; widely distributed in 

 the Philippines. India to China, Malaya, aiid Australia. 



28. THUAREA Persoon 



A slender, creeping, maritime grass,' rooting at the nodes, much- 

 branched. Leaves flat, short. Spikes surrounded by a sheathing leaf, 

 the rachis flat, thin, the base at length accrescent, dilated, ami enclosing 

 the one or two perfect spikelets. Spikelets 1-seriate, jointed on one face 

 of the rachis, the upper 4 to 6 male, the lower 1 or 2 feniale or perfect. 

 Glumes 3 or 4, the first small, hyaline or wanting in the staminate ones, the 

 second empty, the third and fourth subequal. Grain free within the glume, 

 but with the rest of the spikelets enclosed in the thick, hardened base of 



