MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES We 
Palea wanting. 
Culms 60 em tall, leafy, spikelets about 2 mm long__________~_ 3. A. CANINA. 
Culms 15 to 40 cm tall; the leaves mostly near ae) base; spikelets 2.5 to 3mm 
HO WOYER gs nop allel sp 2 gg aT a le A Al MR SO eet a aR eR, a 4. A. HIEMALIS. 
1. Agrostis verticillata Vill., Prosp. Pl. Dauph. 16. 1779. Europe. 
Culms decumbent or spreading, 20 to 40 cm or even as much as 1m 
long; blades flat; panicles dense, more or less interrupted or lobed, 
5 to 10 cm, or sometimes 15 cm, long; spikelets about 2 mm long, 
the glumes scabrous; lemma and palea about 1 mm long. 
Ditches and moist places, Jamaica; a native of the Mediterranean 
region; widely introduced in warm temperate regions from southern 
United States to Argentina. 
JaMAICA: Road to Strawberry Hill, Blue Mountains (altitude 
1,300 m), Harris 12895. 
2. Agrostis alba L., Sp. Pl. 63. 1753. Europe. REDTOP. 
Culms erect or ascending from a decumbent or more or less creeping 
base, 30 to 60 cm tall, or even taller; blades flat, 1 to 5 mm wide; 
panicles open but rather narrow, mostly 10 to 15 cm long, many- 
flowered, the lower branches spreading, verticillate; spikelets 2 to 
2 Omran long; glumes glabrous except the keels; palea about half as 
long as the lemma (fig. 41). 
The West Indian specimens are mostly fine-leaved, with decumbent 
or creeping culms. 
Open ground and moist places at upper altitudes in Jamaica and 
Hispaniola; a native of Europe; widely cultivated in temperate regions 
and introduced at high altitudes in the Tropics. Not grown in the 
West Indies. 
JAMAICA: Blue Mountain Peak, Harris 12664, 12666; Hitchcock 
9368. Yallahes River course, Harris 12492. Morces Gap, Harris 
12894. North slope of Catherines Peak, Hitchcock 9735 (sterile). 
Gordon Town, Hart 927. 
Harti: Furcy (altitude 1,300 m), Leonard 4516. 
3. Agrostis canina L., Sp. Pl. 62. 1753. Europe. VELVET BENT. 
Culms decumbent, about 60 cm tall; blades flat; panicle somewhat 
open, 5 to 15 cm long; spikelets 2 mm long; lemma awned, the awn 
geniculate, about 3 mm long. 
Grassy summit of Blue Mountain Peak; native of Europe; occa- 
sional in pastures and lawns in the United States, and sometimes used 
there on golf greens. Not grown in the West Indies. 
Jamaica: Blue Mountain Peak, Harris 12667. 
The single specimen cited above is not representative. The tall 
culms are leafy and the panicle contracted and somewhat distorted 
as if diseased. 
4, Agrostis hiemalis (Walt.) B.S. P., Prel. Cat. N. Y. 68. 1888. 
TICKLE GRASS. 
Cornucopiae hyemalis Walt., Fl. Carol. 73. 1788. South Carolina. 
Agrostis scabra Willd., Sp. Pl. 1:370. 1797. North America. 
Culms tufted, erect or somewhat spreading at base, 15 to 40 cm 
tall; sheaths scaberulous; ligule membranaceous, thin, oblong, erose, 
3 mm long; blades flat or, especially on the innovations, involute, 
scabrous, 3 to 10 cm long, 0.5 to 2 mm wide; panicles pale or purple, 
open, 5 to 15 cm long, pyramidal to oblong-pyramidal, the branches 
very scabrous, ascending or spreading, capillary, naked below for more 
