Genus 14. 



GRASS FAMILY. 



I2 5 



14. ANASTROPHUS Schlecht. Bot. Zeit. 8: 681. 1850. 



Perennial grasses, often with. long creeping stolons which are thickly clothed with leaves 

 bearing short blades, and erect stems. Spikes i-sided, in pairs at the summit of the stem, or 

 sometimes with an additional one a short distance below, or occasionally in scattered whorls, 

 the rachis winged. Spikelets elliptic to lanceolate, obtuse or acute, glabrous or pubescent, 

 singly disposed, articulated below the empty scales. Scales 3, the outer 2 membranous, 2- 

 several-nerved, the third scale with its opening turned toward the rachis, chartaceous in 

 flower, becoming indurated in fruit, enclosing a palet of similar texture and a perfect flower. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Stigmas plumose. [Greek, in reference to the position of the 

 spikelets.] 



About 12 species, distributed in warm temperate and tropical regions. Type species: Pas- 

 palum platyculmum Thouar. 



1. A. compressus. 



2. A. furcatus. 



Spikelets not exceeding i}4" long, pubescent. 

 Spikelets 2"-3" long, glabrous. 



i. Anastrophus compressus (Sw.) 

 Schlecht. Flat Joint-grass. Fig. 286. 



Milium compressum Sw. Prod. 24. 1788. 

 Paspalum tristachyon Lam. 111. 1 : 176. 1791. 

 P. platycaule Poir. in Lam. Encycl. 5 : 34. 1804. 

 Paspalum compressum Ness, in Mart. Fl. Bras. 



2: 23. 1829. 

 Anastrophus compressus Schlecht. ; Doell, in 



Mart. Fl. Bras. 2 2 : 102. 1877. 



Stolons numerous, leafy, sometimes 2° long. 

 Culms 4'-3° tall, slender, compressed, gla- 

 brous ; sheaths loose ; blades glabrous, some- 

 times ciliate, obtuse, those of the culm 2'-4' 

 long, 2"-4" wide, those of the stolons about 

 1' long, i"-2" wide; racemes in pairs, approxi- 

 mate at the summit of the long and slender 

 stalk, or sometimes with an additional one 

 below, 1 '-4' long; spikelets about 1" long, ob- 

 tuse or acute, the outer scales 3-5-nerved, or 

 2-4-nerved by the suppression of the mid- 

 nerve. 



Fields and roadsides, Virginia (?), Georgia and 

 Florida to Louisiana. Widely distributed in tropi- 

 cal America. Carpet-grass. Louisiana-grass. Aug.- 

 Sept. 



2. Anastrophus furcatus (Fluegge) 

 Nash. Flat Crab-grass. Fig. 287. 



Paspalus furcatus Fluegge, Gram. Monog. 114. 



1810. 

 Paspalum Elliottii S. Wats, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 



6, 629. 1890. 

 Paspalum paspaloides Scribn. Mem. Torrey Club 



5: 29, in part. 1894. Not Digitaria paspalo- 



des Michx. 1803. 

 A. paspaloides Nash, in Britton, Man. 75. 1901. 

 Axonopus furcatus Hitchc. Rhodora 8 : 205. 1906. 



Culms i°-3i° tall; sheaths much compressed, 

 keeled, glabrous or pubescent; blades 1° long 

 or less, 3"-8" wide, linear, glabrous, ciliate on 

 the margins, or hirsute on both surfaces; 

 spikes ascending, i'-6' long; spikelets 2"s" 

 long and about I" wide, acute, the first scale 

 S-nerved, the second usually 4-nerved by the 

 suppression of the midnerve, the third scale 

 i-l as long as the others. 



In fields and woods, Maryland to Florida, 

 thence west to Texas. July-Aug. 



15. PASPALUM L. Syst. Ed. 10, 2 : 855. 1759. 

 Perennial grasses of various habit, with generally flat leaves and i-flowered spikelets 

 borne in 2 rows in i-sided spikes, which are single, in pairs, or panicled. Spikelets oblong 

 to orbicular, flat on the inner surface, convex on the outer. Scales 3, rarely 2 by the absence 



