102 MISC. PUBLICATION 243, U.S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
margin bearing stiff white hairs or short slender teeth; racemes 
dense, 4 to 10 cm long, 4 to 5 mm thick; burs 2 to 3 mm long, nearly 
sessile, the apex scarcely exceeding the spines (fig. 59). 
This species has been erroneously referred to Tragus alienus 
(Spreng.) Schult. (Lappago aliena Spreng.; Nazia aliena Scribn.). 
Open ‘arid eround, southwestern United States and the West 
Indies to Brazil. Occurs on probably all the islands. 
TRIBE 7. CHLORIDEAE 
44. LEPTOCHLOA Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 71, 166. pl. 15. f. 1. 1812 
SPRANGLETOP 
siikelely © 2- to several-flowered, sessile or short-pediceled, approxi- 
mate or somewhat distant along one side of a slender rachis, the 
rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets; 
olumes unequal or nearly equal, awnless or mucronate, l-nerved, 
usually shorter than the first lemma; lemmas obtuse or acute, some- 
times 2-toothed and mucronate or short-awned from between the 
teeth, 3-nerved, the nerves sometimes pubescent. Annuals or peren- 
nials with flat blades and numerous racemes scattered along a common 
axis forming a long or sometimes short panicle. 
Plants annual. 
Sheaths, at least the upper, papillose-hispid_________-__-_ 1. L. FILIFORMIS. 
Sheaths glabrous or scabrous. 
Lemmas awned, the awn sometimes short_________-- 2. IL. FASCICULARIS. 
Lemmas awnless. 
Florets acuminate; sheaths scabrous=222- 2 7 ees ed 4. IL. SCABRA. 
Florets obtuse; sheaths glabrous or slightly scabrous. 
Spikelets 5 to 7 mm long, 6- to 9-flowered, lead-color. 3. UL. UNINERVIA: 
Spikelets 2 to 3 mm long, 3- or 4-flowered, pale. 5. L. NEALLEYI. 
Plants perennial. 
spikes’ slender, 15 to 20icm'long ==) se ee 8. L. LONGA. 
Spikes mostly less than 10 cm long. 
Blades involute_.  E a 9: L. MONTICOLA. 
Blades flat or loosely involute in drying. 
Sheaths and blades glabrous, usually somewhat glaucous; awnless or 
the awns shorter than body of lemma_____________-_ 6. L. virgata. 
Sheaths sparsely papillose-hispid; blades sparsely villous on the upper 
surface near the base; awns or some of them about as long as their 
_ 
lemmas. 52. 3a 2 Re ee 7. LL. DOMINGENSIS. 
1. Leptochioa filiformis (Lam.) Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 71, 166. 1812. 
RED SPRANGLETOP. 
Festuca filiformis Lam., Tabl. Encycl. 1: 191. 1791. Tropical 
America. 
Eleusine mucronata Michx., Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 65. 1803. Illinois. 
Rabdochloa? mucronata Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 84, 176. 1812. 
Leptochloa mucronata Kunth, Rév. Gram. 1: 91. 1829. 
Leptochloa brachiata Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 209. 1854. Gua- 
deloupe. 
Plants often purplish or reddish; culms erect or often branching 
and geniculate below, 40 to 70 cm tall, or often dwarf; blades flat, 
thin, as much as 1 em wide; panicle somewhat viscid, of numerous 
approximate slender racemes 5 to 15 em long on an axis mostly half 
the entire length of the culm; spikelets, 3- to 4-flowered, 1 to 2 mm 
long; glumes acuminate, longer than the first floret, often as long as 
tee spikelet; lemmas awnless, pubescent on the nerves, 1.5 mm long 
(fig. 60). 
