MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 593 



Type species, Brachiaria erucaeformis. Name from Latin brachium, arm, 

 alluding to the armlike racemes. 



Spikelets densely silky-pubescent; plants perennial 1. B. ciliatissima, 



Spikelets glabrous; plants annual. 



Spikelet flat-beaked beyond the fruit 2. B. platyphylla. 



Spikelet not beaked beyond the fruit 3. B. plantaginea. 





*. «.V k fit 



mm 



Fiquhe 854. — Brachiaria ciliatissima. Panicle, X 1; two views of spikelet, and floret, X 10. (Type.) 



1. Brachiaria ciliatissima (Buckl.) 

 Chase. (Fig. 854.) Perennial, pro- 

 ducing long leafy stolons with short 

 internodes, rooting at the swollen 

 nodes, the blades short, firm, divari- 

 cately spreading; flowering culms 

 erect or ascending, 15 to 40 cm. tall, 

 the nodes bearded; sheaths sparsely 

 to densely pilose; blades 3 to 7 cm. 

 long, 3 to 5 mm. wide, tapering to a 

 sharp point, usually ciliate along the 

 lower part of the thick white margin; 

 panicle finally long-exserted, 3 to 6 

 cm. long, the few branches erect or 

 ascending, 1 to 2 cm. long; spikelets 

 4 mm. long; first glume three-fourths 

 the length of the spikelet, glabrous; 

 second glume and sterile lemma 

 about equal, 5-nerved, the marginal 

 part densely white-silky; fruit 3 mm. 

 long. 91 — Open sandy ground, 

 Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas 

 (Benton County). 



2. Brachiaria platyphylla (Griseb.) 

 Nash. (Fig. 855.) Annual; culms 

 decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes; 

 blades rather thick, 4 to 12 cm. long, 

 6 to 12 mm. wide; panicle short- 

 exserted or included at base ; racemes 

 2 to 6, distant, 3 to 8 cm. long, as- 

 cending or spreading, the rachis 



winged, 2 mm. wide; spikelets ovate, 

 4 to 4.5 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide; 

 first glume scarcely one-third the 

 length of the spikelet, blunt; second 

 glume and sterile lemma equal, ex- 

 ceeding the fruit and forming a flat 

 beak beyond it, 3- to 5-nerved, with 

 transverse veinlets toward the sum- 

 mit; fruit 3 mm. long, elliptic, 

 papillose-roughened. O (B. extensa 

 Chase.) — Low, sandy, open ground, 

 Georgia, Florida; Missouri; Arkansas, 

 southern Louisiana, Texas, and Okla- 

 homa; Cuba. 



3. Brachiaria plantaginea (Link) 

 Hitchc. (Fig. 856.) Resembling B. 

 platyphylla, more widely creeping, 

 usually taller, blades commonly 

 wider; rachis 1 to 1.5 mm. wide, the 

 margins infolded ; first glume strongly 

 clasping; transverse veinlets wanting 

 or obscure on the second glume and 

 sterile lemma, these not pointed be- 

 yond the fruit. O — Open, mostly 

 moist, ground, Metcalf, Ga. ; ballast, 

 Philadelphia, Pa., and Camden, N. J.; 

 Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil. 



Brachiaria erucaeformis (J. E. 

 Smith) Griseb. (Fig. 857.) Spreading 

 annual with rather delicate erect 

 racemes and pubescent spikelets 2.5 



