48 MISC. PUBLICATION 2438, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
15. UNIOLA L., Sp. Pl. 71. 1753 
Spikelets, 3- to many-flowered, the lower 1 to 4 lemmas empty, the 
rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets; 
glumes compressed-keeled, rigid, usually narrow, nerved, acute or 
acuminate or rarely mucronate, lemmas compressed, sometimes con- 
spicuously flattened, chartaceous, many-nerved, the nerves some- 
times obscure, acute or acuminate, the empty ones at the base usually 
successively smaller, the uppermost usually reduced; palea rigid, some- 
times bowed out in the winged keels. Rather tall, erect perennials, 
with flat or convolute blades 
and narrow or open panicles 
of compressed spikelets. 
Spikelets 8 to 10 mm broad, in a 
drooping panicle. === aa 
1. U. PANICULATA. 
Spikelets 2 to 4 mm wide, in a 
narrow erect panicle__________ 
2. U. VIRGATA. 
1. Uniola paniculata L., Sp. 
Plo We" i530 a © arolmear 
SEA-OATS. 
A robust tufted smooth 
perennial, often 2 m tall, with 
long, tough, involute blades 
and long panicles of pale 
heavy spikelets, commonly 
2.5 em long; spikelets oval, 
1.5 to 2.5 em long; lemmas 
about 1 cm long (fig. 25). 
Sandy seacoasts, Virginia 
to South America. In Cuba 
called ‘‘arana.”’ 
BauHamas: New Provi- 
dence, Geogr. Soc. Baltimore 
109; Dewey 570; Eggers 4119. 
Cusa: Playa de Bacuranao, 
Léon 889. Balie, Eee 
Mo lt ieee st ; Ekman 10564. aya de 
mCUME spikelets, X11 (Kearney 218) Marianao, Léon 064; Van 
Hermann 895. Cabanas, 
Palmer and Riley 751. Varedero Beach, Killip 13945. Cayo Sabinal, 
Shafer 701. Without locality, Wright 2823. 
2. Uniola virgata (Poir.) Griseb., Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 531. 1864. 
Poa virgata Poir., in Lam., Encycl. 5: 78. 1804. Santo Domingo. 
Uniola racemiflora Trin., Mém. Acad. St. Pétersb. VI. Sci. Nat. 
21:55. 1836. Santo Domingo. 
Uniola sparta Trin., Linnaea 10: 307. 1836. Cuba. 
Plants in large clumps with many sterile shoots, the culms less 
robust than in U. paniculata, 1 to 2 m tall, the closely involute blades 
hard and very flexuous, the panicle stiffly erect, 40 to 60 cm long, the 
slender stiff branches narrowly ascending, 2 to 4 em long; spikelets 
about 5 mm long. Panicle sometimes spikelike. Blades usually 
very scabrous on the margins. 
