MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES 165 
1. Trichachne eggersii (Hack.) Henr., Med. Rijks Herb. Leiden 61: 
OP Ga 0: 
Panicum eggersii Hack., Oesterr. Bot. Ztschr. 51: 292. 1901. St. 
Thomas, Hggers 295. 
Valota eggersii Hitche. and Chase, Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 18: 
Zeon MOEA 
Digitaria eggersvi Henr., Blumea 1: 97. 1934. 
Culms slender, branching, 20 to 40 cm tall, decumbent at base; 
blades flat, puberulent, 1 to 5 cm long, 2 to 4 mm wide; panicles of 
2 or 3 erect racemes 2 to 5 cm long; spikelets 3 to 4 mm long. 
Stony slopes, Virgin Islands. 
VirGin Isuanps: St. Thomas, Hggers 3, 295. Virgin Gorda, Fish- 
ock 209. 
2. Trichachne insularis (L.) Nees, Agrost. Bras. 86. 1829. 
: SOURGRASS. 
Andropogon insularis L., Syst. Nat. ed. 10.2: 1304. 1759. Jamaica. 
Panicum lanatum Rottb., Act. Lit. Univ. Hafn. 1: 269. 1778. 
Jamaica. 
Milium villosum Swartz, Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 24. 1788. Jamaica. 
Panicum leucophaeum H. B. K., Nov. Gen. et Sp. 1: 97. 1815. 
Venezuela and Colombia. 
Panicum insulare Meyer, Prim. Fl. Esseq. 60. 1818. 
Saccharum polystachyum Sieb.; Kunth, Enum. Pl. 1: 124. 1833. 
Martinique. 
2 Panicum saccharoides A. Rich., in Sagra, Hist. Cuba 11: 306. 1850. 
uba. 
Panicum falsum Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1: 67. 1854. Cuba. 
Panicum duchaissingii Steud., Syn. Pl. Glum. 1:93. 1854. Guade- 
loupe. 
Tricholaena insularis Griseb., Abh. Ges. Wiss. G6ttingen 7: 265. 
1857. 
Tricholaena saccharoides Griseb., Syst. Unt. Veg. Karaib.117. 1857. 
Digitaria leucophaea Stapf, in Thiselt. Dyer, Fl. Cap. 7: 382. 1898. 
Syntherisma insularis Millsp. and Chase, Field Mus. Bot. 1: 473. 
1902. 
Valota insularis Chase, Biol. Soc. Wash. Proc. 19: 188. 1906. 
Digitaria insularis Mez; Ekman, Arkiv. Bot. 13: 22. 1913. 
Rather coarse tufted weedy grass; culms 50 to 150 cm tall; sheaths 
sparsely hirsute; blades flat, usually scabrous, as much as 25 cm long 
and 1 cm wide; panicles silky, tawny at maturity, 10 to 30 cm long, 
the numerous racemes 10 to 15 cm long; spikelets about 4 mm long, 
very silky (fig. 105). 
Open ground and waste places in the Tropics and Subtropics of 
America at low altitudes. 
This species is often called ‘‘sourgrass’’, a name which is occasionally 
applied to other large unpalatable grasses such as species of Paspalum 
and Andropogon. In Cuba it is one of the grasses called “‘barba de 
indio’’, and ‘‘rabo de zorra.’’ In St. Kitts it is called ‘long grass.” 
To be found in probably all of the West Indian islands. 
3. Trichachne laxa (Reichenb.) Hitche. 
Reimaria laxa Reichenb.; Spreng., Tent. Sup. Syst. Veg. 2. 1828. 
Surinam. 
Valota lara Hitche. and Chase, Contrib. U.S. Natl. Herb. 18: 292. 
1917. 
