MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



999 



in South Africa, a few introduced elsewhere, 

 two in California. 



(142) RHYNCHELYTHRUM Nees 



Type species: Rhynchely thrum dregeanum 

 Nees (R. repens (Willd.) C. E. Hub- 

 bard). 



Rhynchelytrum Nees in Lindl., Nat. Syst. 

 Bot. 446. 1836. A single species, R. drege- 

 anum from Cape of Good Hope, is included. 

 (Nees corrected the spelling to Rhynchely- 

 trum in Errata, following page 490 in Nees, 

 Agrostographia, 1841.) There are some 40 

 species in Africa, southern Europe, and 

 southern Asia, one species, R. repens (Willd.) 

 C. E. Hubbard, widely introduced in the 

 warmer parts of America and commonly 

 known as Natal grass. Most of the species 

 were formerly included in Tricholaena 

 Schrad., the type species of which is T. 

 micrantha Schrad. (T. teneriffae (L.f.) Link, 

 based on Saccharum teneriffae L.f.) In his 

 1836 publication Nees gives "C. b. Sp." 

 (Cape bonae Spei) as the locality for Rhyn- 

 chelytrum dregeanum, but in his Agrosto- 

 graphia Capensis 64. 1841, Nees, repeating 

 the earlier generic description almost verba- 

 tim and describing the species in detail, 

 gives as locality "In loco depresso humido ad 

 Port Natal vix 100' [pedales] alt., (Drege.)." 

 Port Natal is now known as Durban, but 

 Nees seems to have included the south 

 African regions explored by Drege under the 

 general name of colonia Capensis, or 

 Capstadt. 



In the Agrostographia Capensis, pages 

 16-20, Nees includes Tricholaena Schrad., 

 with four species, T. tonsa Nees and T. 

 rosea Nees, which have the characters of 

 Rhynchelytrum, and T. capensis (Licht.) 

 Nees and T. arenaria Nees, with the char- 

 acters now restricted to Tricholaena. 



Perennials or annuals, the panicles with 

 capillary branchlets and pedicels and silky, 

 often reddish, spikelets. 



(152) MICROSTEGIUM Nees 



Type species: Microstegium willdenovianum 

 Nees. 



Microstegium Nees in Lindl., Nat. S3^st. 

 447. 1836. A single species is included, 

 M . willdenovianum Nees, which is the same 

 as M. vimineum (Trin.) A. Camus, based on 

 Andropogon vimineus Irin. 



Leptatherum Nees, Proc. Linn. Soc. 1: 92. 

 1841. A single species is included, L. roy- 

 leanum Nees, which is the same as Micro- 

 stegium nudum (Trin.) A. Camus, based on 

 Pollinia nuda Trin. 



Nemastachys Steud., Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 

 357. 1854. A single species is included, 

 N. taitensis Steud., which is the same as 

 Microstegium glabratum (Brongn.) A. Camus, 

 based on Eulalia glabrata Brongn. 



Mostly decumbent species with lanceolate 

 blades and digitate racemes, numerous in 

 southern Asia and East Indies, several 

 species in the Pacific Islands, and a few in 

 Africa, one introduced in eastern United 

 States. 



(158) CHRYSOPOGON Trin. 



Type species: Chrysopogon gryllus (L.) Trin. 



Rhaphis Lour., Fl. Cochinch. 552. 1790. 



A single species, Rhaphis trivialis Lour., 

 which is the same as Andropogon aciculatus 

 Retz. (Rhaphis aciculatus (Retz.) Desv.) 

 and Chrysopogon aciculatus (Retz.) Trin. is 

 included. 



Pollinia Spreng., Pugill. 2: 10. 1815. 

 Not Pollinia Trin., 1832. Several species are 

 described, but the generic characters are 

 given under the first, P. gryllus Spreng., 

 based on Andropogon gryllus L. 



Centrophorum Trin., Fund. Agrost. 106, 

 pi. 5. 1820. A single species, C. chinense, 

 is included. This is the same as Chrysopogon 

 aciculatus (Retz.) Trin. 



Chrysopogon Trin., Fund. Agrost. 187. 

 1820. Two species are included, C. gryllus 

 (L.) Trin. and C. aciculatus (Retz.) Trin. 

 An illustration of the first is cited and that 

 species is taken as the type. 



Chrysopogon sect. Rhaphis (Lour.) Ohwi, 

 Acta Phytotax. and Geobot. 11: 163. 1942. 

 Based on Rhaphis Lour. 



Bentham (Linn. Soc. Jour., Bot. 19: 73. 

 1881) transferred the American species, 

 Andropogon nutans, A. avenaceus, and allied 

 species, to Chrysopogon Trin., and that 

 name was adopted by Vasey and others 

 until Sorghastrum Nash was described for 

 these species. 



Awned perennials of Eurasia, Africa, and 

 the Pacific islands. Only one annual species, 

 C. pauciflorus (Chapm.) Benth., known from 

 America. 



VETIVERIA Bory 



Type species: Vetiveria odoratissima Bory. 

 (V. zizanioides (L.) Nash.) 



Vetiveria Bory in Lem., Bui. Soc. Philom. 

 (Paris) 1822: 43. 1822. A single species, 

 V. odoratissima Bory, mentioned in an 

 account of the rhizome, and Agrostis verti- 

 cillata Lam. are cited, both the same as V. 

 zizanioides (L.) Nash, based on Phalaris 

 zizanioides L. The species is described under 

 the name Vetiveria odorata Virey in Du- 

 petit-Thouars ex Virey, Jour, de Pharm. I. 

 13: 501. 1827, the preceding paper cited. 



Mandelorna Steud., Syn. PI. Glum. 1: 

 359. 1854. A single species included, M. 

 insignis Steud., the same as Vetiveria nigri- 

 tana (Benth.) Stapf, a species closely allied 

 to V. zizanioides. 



Tall perennials of the Old World, one 

 species introduced in America. 



