PIPER NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES 01 B'ESTUCA. 1< 



1 >E8CR1 PI l' ' V 



Densely tufted; culms smooth, 10 to 20 cm. high, aearly covered by the overlap- 

 ping sheaths; Bheathssn th, about 6 to each culm; ligule truncate, scarious, 0.5 nun. 



long; blades closely involute, very smooth, erect, 5 to 8 cm. long; panicle consisting 

 of few to several (2 to L5 large purple spikelets; Bpikelets I 11 to II mm. long, 2 to 

 4-flowered; joints of the rachilla hispidulous, I to 1.5 nun. long; glumes subequal, 

 lanceolate, smooth or minutely scabrous, 10 to 15 mm. long, nearly equaling the 

 Bpikelet; lemma minutely scabrous, elliptic-lanceolate, s t-- 10 nun. long, bearing a 

 Bhort, Btraightawn; palea Bhorter than the lemma, bidentate at apex, scabrous on 

 tin- nerves, the inflexed sides half as broad as the interaerve. 



A very peculiar species upon which Fournier founded the genus Helleria, which, 

 however, seems nol distinct enough from Festuca. The species was poorly figured 

 by 11. B. K... but has been finely plated by Hemsley." 

 The following specimens have been examined: 



Crater of Nevado de Toluca, Pringh 4: , ,i»4. Rosi & Painter 8017. 



[ztaccihuatl, Purpus 27. 



Perote, A"' Ison 45. 



Volcano Toluca, X> Ison 3. 



Mount < Orizaba, Lit bmann. 



Festuca procera II. B. K. 



Festuca procera II. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: L54. 1815. "Crescit locis alsis, Bub- 

 frigidis regni Quitensis prope Chillo, San A.ntonio de Lulumbamba et Lloa, inter 

 alt. 1280 et L470 hexap." 



Diplachm procera Spreng. Syst. 1:351. L825. "Quito." Festuca orgyalis Willd. 

 in herbarium and F. procera Humb. are cited a> synonyms. 



Festuca orgyalis Willd.; Fourn. Mex. PI. 2: 124. 1886. Based on l>>i>i<i, hru pro- 

 a ra Spreng. 



Fournier cites as a Mexican specimen Bonpland' s no. 2285 in Herbarium Mus. Par. 

 "absque loco, e Nova-Hispania," and further remarks that it differs from F. \ 

 II. B. K. especially in its smooth culm, implying that F. orgyalis is distinct from that. 

 Hemsley cites F. orgyalis as from South Mexico — on the authority of Humboldt and 

 Bonpland. But F. orgyalis is founded on tin- name Diplachm procera Spreng. and 

 on nothing else; and this in turn seems clearly founded on Festuca procera H. B. K.. 

 notwithstanding that Sprengel Bays "culmo procero glabro," while H. B. K. have it 

 "culmo scabro." The literary evidence indicates that the supposed Mexican - 

 men of Bonpland is probably some of th«' original matt-rial of Festuca procera. The 

 Bpecies is unknown to us. 



Festuca mirabilis sp. nov. 



Densely tufted; culms very stout. 1 to 2 meter- high, 4-jointed, cylindric, smooth, 

 faintly striate; sheaths striate, scabrous, mostly shorter than the internodes; blades 

 pale-green, firm, mostly folded, 3 to 5 mm. broad, striate and scabrous on both Bides, 

 50 to sn cm. in length, long-attenuate to the apex; ligule scarious, truncate, short 

 on the basal leave-, 4 to 5 mm. Ion- , q the culm leaves; panicle 20 to 30 em. 

 long, lather loose, usually secund, somewhat drooping, equaled or overtopped by 

 the uppermost leaf; axis smooth below, scabrous above; rays in aboul seven - 

 usually in twos. Blender, scabrous, simple or with hut few branches, spikelet-bearing 

 at the tips; spikelets yellowish-green, strongly flattened, 5 to 7-flowered, 1.5 to 2cm. 

 long; joints of the rachilla cylindric, 1 to 2 mm. long, strongly scabrous-hirtellous; 

 glumes subulate, the lower l-nerved, 7 nun. long, the upper 3-nerved, l<> mm. long; 



'T.iol. Centr. Am. Bot. 3: 528. pi 



