12 



MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



ical Congress (and referred to a 

 committee) that the standard species 

 of Holcus be H. lanatus and of Air a 

 be A. praecox, thus leaving Sorghum 

 and Deschampsia the valid names for 

 their respective genera. 



The synonymy attempts to record 

 all the effectively published names 

 given to species and varieties de- 

 scribed from the United States or 

 known to grow in the United States. 

 In addition many names are given 

 that have been published as s}mo- 

 nyms or without sufficient description 

 (nomina nuda). Whether such names 

 are included depends upon whether 

 they have appeared in such works as 

 the Index Kewensis or have some 

 connection with effectively published 

 names. When a species is transferred 

 from one genus to another, a new 

 name results. The basis of the trans- 

 fer is given in each case. If the name 

 was published as new the original 

 published locality is given. State- 

 ments enclosed in brackets following 

 the original locality are based upon 

 unpublished evidence. 



Forms (formae) are included in the 

 synonymy so far as they have been 

 indexed in the grass herbarium. The 

 index includes all forms recently 

 published in this country. Misapplied 

 names have not been included among 

 the synonyms but are mentioned in 

 a paragraph at the end of the syn- 

 onymy of the valid species, and then 

 only names that have appeared in 

 recent manuals are given. For con- 

 venience the names of the genera are 

 arranged alphabetically and under 

 each genus the valid names of the 

 species are given in alphabetic order 

 in boldface type, the synonyms of 

 each species (in italics) being arranged 

 chronologically under the valid name. 



So far as possible the names have 

 been confirmed or identified by exam- 

 ination of the types. The type of a 

 species or variety is the specimen 

 which an author had chiefly in mind 

 when he wrote the original descrip- 

 tion. The type specimen determines 



the application of the name. The type 

 specimens of the early American bot- 

 anists are mostly in European her- 

 baria. The types of species described 

 by Vasey and other botanists con- 

 nected with the Department of Agri- 

 culture are mostly in the United 

 States National Herbarium. Types 

 not in Washington have been studied 

 in other herbaria and photographs 

 and drawings made of them by the 

 agrostologists of the Department of 

 Agriculture, or have been lent by the 

 curators of the herbaria in which they 

 are deposited. Through the courtesy 

 of these curators many fragments of 

 types have been deposited in the 

 United States National Herbarium. A 

 few type specimens have not been 

 located, and doubtless in some of 

 these cases there are no types in exist- 

 ence to confirm original descriptions. 

 A relatively small number of pub- 

 lished names still remain unidentifi- 

 able. These names are listed following 

 the synonymy. Certain exotic species, 

 occasionally cultivated for ornament 

 or for trial, have been included in 

 notes appended to the genera to 

 which they belong. It has not been 

 practicable in all cases to verify the 

 application of the names on a type 

 basis, and the species are admitted 

 under the names they bear in culti- 

 vation. 



COMMON NAMES 



The common or English names of 

 plants are often uncertain in their ap- 

 plication, different plants bearing the 

 same name or the same plant bearing 

 different names in different localities. 

 A recent work, Standardized Plant 

 Names, 3 recently reissued, has coor- 

 dinated and standardized the com- 

 mon names. One of the authors of this 

 work, Frederick V. Coville, standard- 

 ized the common names of the grasses 

 for the first edition of this Manual. 



3 American Joint Committee on Horticultural 

 Nomenclature, standardized plant names. Pre- 

 pared by Olmsted, F. L., Coville, F. V., and Kelsey, 

 H. P. 546 pp. Salem, Mass. 1923. (Revised by Kelsey, 

 H. P., and Dayton, W. A. 675 pp. Harrisburg, Pa. 

 1942.) 



