224 BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
is chosen as the type, since it is the only species that agrees with his de- 
scription of the genus in having solitary spikelets. The other species 
that he mentions are now referred to other genera, 
Milium digitatum to Syntherisma, J/, cimicinum to 
Coridochloa, M. paniceum to Syntherisma. In a 
subsequent paragraph the author briefly describes 
a new species, .1. aureus, which he thinks ought 
to belong to this genus. Nash 1 selects A. aureus 
as the type of Axonopus. 
Cabrera Lag., Gen. and Sp. Nov. 5. 1816. The 
type is C. clirijsoblepliaris Lag., the only species 
mentioned. To this group belongs Axonopus aureus 
mentioned above. 
Anastrophus Schlecht., Bot. Zeit. 8: 681. 1850. 
The type is Paspalum platijculmum Du Petit-Thou.. 
the first of several species referred to the genus. 
This is probably the same as Axonopus compressus, 
or at least closely allied to that species. 
Lappagopsis Steud., Syn. PI. Glum. 1 : 112. 1854. 
The type is L. bijuga- Steud., the only species de- 
scribed. 
The 
in the 
most important species of the. genus 
United States is Axonopus compres- 
sus (Swartz) Beauv. (fig. 135), 
usually called carpet grass in the 
South. This is a stolonif erous per- 
ennial, with compressed stems, 
comparatively short, flat, broadly 
linear, abruptly pointed blades, 
and slender spikes somewhat digi- 
tate at the summit of the culms. 
Carpet grass is common in the 
Tropics and extends in the United 
States from Virginia to Florida 
and Texas in the lowland along 
the coast. It thrives particularly 
in alluvial or mucky open ground, 
where it becomes the dominant 
"Fig. 135. — Carpet grass, Axonopus compressus. Plant, 
fertile floret. X 10. 
X 1 ; two views of spikelet and 
grass. Carpet grass is the predominant pasture grass in the region 
mentioned, but is of little importance on sandy soil and does not thrive 
on the uplands. In the region where it thrives as a pasture grass 
*N. Amer. Fl. 17:165. 1912. 
