MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES 157 
Moist places and rocky river banks, Cuba and Hispaniola; Mexico 
to Brazil. ; 
Cusa: Sancti Spiritus, Léon 2570. Banao Mountains, Léon 4009; 
Ekman 16211, 16212 (Amer. Gr. Nat. Herb. 988). Without locality, 
Wright 1552. 
Harti: Pétionville, Ekman H 1370. Las Caobas, Ekman H 3249. 
Dominican ReEpusuic: Santiago, Raunkiaer 934. Moncidn, 
Ekman H 12666. 
65. ACHLAENA Griseb., Cat. Pl. Cub. 228. 1866 
Spikelets jointed with the pedicel, disarticulating at maturity, the 
base narrowed to a pointed stipe or callus minutely barbed at the 
base or point; first glume subulate, extending into a slender awn; 
second glume narrow, somewhat indurate, narrowed into a slender 
awn; sterile lemma empty, rather hard, shorter than the second glume, 
awnless; fertile lemma rather thin, hyaline, awnless, acuminate, about 
as long as the sterile lemma, the palea like the glume but shorter. 
Tufted perennial with narrow blades and open panicle. 
From Grisebach’s description of the genus it is evident that he 
failed to note the palea, mistaking the sterile lemma for the fertile 
lemma (flos fertilis) and the fertile lemma for the palea, stating as he 
does that the palea is l-nerved. Bentham and Hooker * and Hackel *! 
follow Grisebach in this disposition of the genus, probably lacking 
material for verification of Grisebach’s description. Hackel places 
the genus in Oryzeae, and elsewhere describes a specimen of Achlaena 
piptostachya as Arthropogon stipitatus. Grisebach states that there is 
but 1 stamen; we find 3, as did Hackel in the plant he described under 
Arthropogon. Achlaena is closely allied to the South American 
Arthropogon or is possibly congeneric. 
1. Achiaena piptostachya Griseb., Cat. Pl. Cub. 229. 1866. Cuba, 
Wright 3487. 
Arthropogon stipitatus Hack., Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. Math. 
Naturw. (Wien) 89! : 125. 1884. Cuba, Ramon de la Sagra. 
Culms stiffly erect, 50 to 100 cm tall; blades linear, firm, flat or 
involute, abruptly sharp-pointed, mostly clustered toward the base; 
panicle long-exserted, erect, 7 to 15 cm long, the branches stiffly spread- 
ing or reflexed, fascicled below, somewhat glutinous; spikelets ap- 
pressed along the outer half of the main branches of the panicle; first 
glume, including awn, 1 to 2 cm long; second glume scaberulous, about 
4 mm long, the awn about 3 cm long (fig. 100). 
Open woods, dry slopes, and savannas, Cuba and Jamaica. 
Cusa: San Isidro, Britton, Wilson, and Léon 13945. Bahia 
Honda, Wilson 9215. San Diego de los Bafios, Léon 4383. Pinar del 
Rio, Hitchcock 23291; Baker and Abarca 3447; Britton and Cowell 
9732: Vinales, Killip 13556. Soledad, Hitchcock 23333. San 
Miguel de los Bafios, Killip 13837. Canasi, Léon 12940. Baragua, 
Hitchcock 23347. Guara, Hitchcock 23410. Sierra de Nipe, Ekman 
9688, in 1922 (Amer. Gr. Nat. Herb. 800). Isla de Pinos, Curtiss 236; 
Britton and Wilson 14316; Palmer and Riley 913. Without locality, 
Wright 3487. 
Jamaica: Askenish (Dolphin Head), Britton and Hollick 2194. 
40 Gen. Pl. 3: 1117. 1883. 
41 In Engl. and Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 2?: 41. 1887. 
