MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES 



193 



Figure 373.— Distribution of 

 Phragmites communis. 



27. NEYRAUDIA Hook. f. 



Spikelets 4- to 8-flowered; rachilla jointed about half way between 



the florets, the part below the joint glabrous, the part above bearded, 



forming a stipe below the mature floret ; glumes 



unequal, 1-nerved; lemmas narrow, 3-nerved, 



acuminate, conspicuously long-pilose on the 



margins, awned from between 2 fine teeth, 



the awn recurved. A tall perennial with large 



open many-flowered panicles. Type species, 



Neyraudia madagascariensis (Kunth) Hook. f. 



(N. arundinacea (L.) Henr.) Name an ana- 

 gram of Reynaudia, a genus of Cuban grasses. 



1. Neyraudia reynaudiana (Kunth) Keng. (Fig. 374.) Reed-like 



perennial, 1 to 3 m tall, resembling Phragmites communis; sheaths 



woolly at the throat and on the collar; 

 blades flat, 1 to 2 cm wide or sometimes 

 narrow and subin volute; panicle nod- 

 ding, 30 to 60 cm long, rather densely 

 flowered ; spikelets 4- to 8-flowered, the 

 lowest 1 or 2 lemmas empty, 6 to 8 mm 

 long, rather short-pedicled along the 

 numerous panicle branches; lemmas 

 somewhat curved, slender, the awn flat, 

 recurved. % — Planted in testing gar- 

 den at Coconut Grove, Fla., and occa- 

 sionally escaped ; native of southern Asia. 



28. MELICA L. Melicgrass 



Spikelets 2- to several-flowered, the 

 rachilla disarticulating above the glumes 

 and between the fertile florets (in some 

 species spikelets falling entire) , prolonged 

 beyond the perfect florets and bearing 2 



■iStf 



Figure 37 '4.— Neyraudia reynaudiana. Panicle, X'l; spikelet, X 5; floret, X 10. (Moldenke 432, Fla.) 



or 3 approximate gradually smaller empty lemmas, each enclosing 

 the one above; glumes somewhat unequal, thin, often papery, 

 scarious-margined, obtuse or acute, sometimes nearly as long as the 



