MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES ol 
1. Gynerium sagittatum (Aubl.) Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 138. pl. 24. 
ily Gy, WSN, WILD CANE. 
Saccharum sagittatum Aubl., Pl. Guian. 1: 50. 1775. French 
Guiana. 
Gynervum saccharoides Humb. and Bonpl., Pl. Aequin. 2: 105. pl. 
115. 1813. Venezuela. 
Arundo saccharoides Poir., in Lam., Encycl. Sup. 4: 703. 1816. 
Aira gigantea Steud. , Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 224. 1854. Antilles. 
Stout reeds often 10 m tall, the culms clothed below with old 
_sheaths, the blades having fallen: blades sharply serrulate, commonly 
2 m long and 4 to 6 cm wide (forming a great fan-shaped summit to 
the sterile culms); panicles pale, plumy, densely flowered, 1 m or 
more long, the main axis erect, the branches drooping; pistillate 
bee silky from the villous florets: staminate panicles glabrous 
(fig. 26) 
River banks and low ground, forming dense colonies, West Indies 
and southern Mexico to South America. Found throughout the 
West Indies except the Bahamas. Called in Cuba “‘cafia de Castilla.” 
The stems are used for lattices and light construction work. 
18. ARUNDO L., Sp. Pl. 81. 1753 
Spikelets several-flowered, the florets successively smaller, the 
summits of all about equal, the rachilla glabrous, disarticulating above 
the glumes and between the florets; glumes somewhat unequal, mem- 
branaceous, 3-nerved, narrow, tapering into a slender point, about as 
long as the spikelet; lemmas thin, 3-nerved, densely long-pilose, 
gradually narrowed at the summit, the nerves ending in slender 
teeth, the middle one longer, extending into a straight awn. ‘Tall 
perennial reeds, with broad linear blades and large plumelike terminal 
panicles. 
1. Arundo donax L., Sp. Pl. 81. 1753. Europe. 
GIANT REED, CARRIZO. 
Culms stout, in large clumps, 2 to 6 m tall, sparingly branching, 
from thick knotty rhizomes; blades numerous, elongate, 5 to 7 cm 
wide on the main culm, conspicuously distichous, spaced evenly along 
the culm, the margins scabrous; panicle dense, erect, 30 to 60 cm 
long; spikelets 12 mm long (fig. 27). 
River banks and moist ground, warmer parts of the Old World. 
Cultivated in America for ornament and occurring from Texas to 
California and southward to South America as an escape. Found on 
nearly all of the West Indian islands, including Bermuda and the 
Bahamas. In Cuba called ‘giiin.”” The woody stems are used for 
lattices and light construction work. 
19. PHRAGMITES Trin., Fund. Agrost. 134. 1820. 
Spikelets several-flowered, the rachilla clothed with long silky hairs, 
disarticulating above the glumes and at the base of each joint between 
the florets, the lowest floret staminate or neuter; glumes 3-nerved, or 
the upper ’5-nerved, lanceolate, acute, unequal, the first about half 
as long as the second, the latter shorter than the florets; lemmas 
