MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES 87 
JAMAICA: Westphalia, Harris 11434, 11568. Road to Salt Hill, 
Harris 11365. Below Sir Johns Peak, Harris 11598. Newcastle, 
Mitchcock, 9340. Bull Head Mountain, Hitchcock 9525. Cimcehona, 
Hitchcock 9716. Barican, Hitchcock 9573. North slope Catherines 
Peak, Hitchcock 9736. Gordon Town, Hart 735. 
WinpDwarp Isuanps: Martinique, Duss. 
10. Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth, Rév. Gram. 1: 67. 1829. 
Agrostis virgimca L., Sp. Pl. 63. 1753. Virginia. 
Agrostis littoralis Lam., Tabl. Encycl. 1: 161. 1791. Tropical 
America. 
Vilfa virgimca Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 16, 149, 182. 1812. 
Sporobolus littoralis Kunth, Rév. Gram. 1: 68. 1829. 
Culms 15 to 70 cm tali or even as much as 1 m, erect from extensively 
creeping hard scaly rhizomes; leaves numerous, conspicuously 
distichous, the sheaths overlapping; blades firm, involute-pointed, 3 to 
15 cm long, 2 to 5 mm wide; panicles spikelike, somewhat narrowed 
above and belcw, 2 to 10, rarely to 15, em long; spikelets 2 mm long 
or slightly longer; first glume a little more than half as long as the 
spikelet, the second as long as the spikelet (fig. 51). 
In the Grasses of the West Indies * Sporobolus littoralis was recog- 
nized as distinct. Further collections show complete intergradation 
between large specimens referred to it and characteristic S. virginicus. 
Lamarck’s type of Agrostis littoralis, examined in the Paris Herbarium 
in 1935, proves to be an intermediate specimen, the panicle 6 cm long. 
Saline or sandy sou along the coast, Virginia to Brazil, and all warm 
countries of the Eastern Hemisphere. Common throughout the West 
ee Extensive colonies of sterile plants often found along sandy 
eaches. 
40. ARISTIDA L., Sp. Pl. 82. 1753. Turen-awn 
Spikelets 1-flowered, the rachilla disarticulating obliquely above the 
elumes; glumes narrow, acute, acuminate, or awn-tipped; lemma 
indurate, narrow, terete, convolute, with a hard, sharp-pointed, 
usually minutely bearded callus at base, terminating above in a 
usually trifid awn. Species of the West Indies all perennial except 
A. adscensionis. 
Giferal awnesaunmbevor obsolete __.22. . 7. 252 22.524. 582222 1. A. TERNIPES. 
Lateral awns well developed (short in .4. laevigata). 
VEER ES, MCU AN TPES te Sed A le aye OE 2. A. ADSCENSIONIS. 
Plants perennial. 
Column of awn 10.mm long, twisted __.....__-__-_-_- 3. A. SPICIFORMIS. 
Column of awn, if present, much shorter than 10 mm. 
Panicle open, the branches stiffly ascending or spreading. 
Lateral awns one-fourth as long as the central or less. 
4, A. LAEVIGATA. 
Lateral awns half as long as tho central or a little more. 
5. A. PRADANA. 
Panicle narrow, the branches appressed or somewhat ascending; lateral 
awns usually about as long as the central, sometimes shorter but at 
least half as long. 
First glume one-half to two-thirds as long as the second. 
Awns contorted at base, about 1 em long______--_-_~- 6. A. FRAGILIS. 
Awns not contorted at base, 2 to 2.6 em long_____-- 7. A.EGGERSII. 
24 Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herb. 18: 369. 1917. 
