MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES Dy) 
88. ECHINOCHLOA Beauv., Ess. Agrost. 53. pl. 11. f. 2. 1812 
Spikelets plano-convex, often stiffly hispid, subsessile, solitary or in 
irregular clusters on one side of the panicle branches; fir st olume about 
half the length of the spikelet, pointed; second olume and sterile 
lemma equal, pointed, mucronate, or the elume short-awned and the 
lemma long-awned, sometimes conspicuously so, enclosing a mem- 
branaceous palea and sometimes a staminate flower; fertile lemma 
plano-convex, smooth and shining, acuminate-pointed, the margins 
inrolled below, flat above, the apex of the palea not enclosed. Coarse, 
often succulent, annuals or perennials with compressed sheaths, 
linear flat blades, and rather compact panicles composed of short, 
densely flowered racemes along a main axis. 
Ligule a dense line of stiff yellowish hairs; plants perennial. 
Fruit about 2.5 mm long; awn of sterile lemma less than two mm long. 
1. EK. PYRAMIDALIS. 
Fruit about 4 mm long; awn of sterile lemma usually 5 to 10 mm long. 
E. POLYSTACHYA. 
Ligule wanting, the ligular area sometimes pubescent; plants annual. 
Racemes simple, rather distant, 1 to 2 em long; spikelets crowded in about 
4 rows, the awn of the sterile lemma reduced to a short point; blades 3 to 
(G) TOTOTCY SiC (Se ea 35S nt Leah aS anna tie or cae wih 3. E. cOLONUM. 
Racemes more or less branched, usually more than 2 cm long; spikelets irregu- 
larly crowded and fascicled, usually not arranged in rows, the awn of the 
sterile lemma variable; blades usually more than 5 mm wide. 
Sheaths, at least the lower, papillose-hispid; panicle dense Cee in depaup- 
erate specimens), the ‘spikelets long- awned PN aR eS 4. KE. WALTERI. 
Sheaths smooth; awns variable, but the panicle not a dense mass of long- 
awned spikelets. 
Panicles soft and nodding; spikelets inconspicuously hispid. 
EK. CRUS-PAVONIS. 
Panicles erect and rather stiff; spikelets conspicuously hispid. 
6. E. CRUSGALLI. 
1. Echinochloa pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitche. and Chase, Contrib. 
Wess Natl Herb: 18; 345. 1917. 
Panicum pyramdale Lam., Tabl. Encycl. 1: 171. 1791. Senegal. 
Pamcum spectabile var. guadeloupense Hack., Notizbl. Bot. Gart. 
Berlin 1: 328. 1897. (Guadeloupe, Duss 3176. 
Echinochloa guadeloupensis Wieg., Rhodora 23:63. 1921. 
Perennial; culms erect, rather fleshy, 1.5 to 2.5 m tall, glabrous; 
sheaths glabrous; ligule a dense row of stiff yellowish hairs 1 to 2mm 
long; blades 40 to 60 cm long, 5 to 10 mm wide, glabrous above, 
scabrous on the margins and on the nerves beneath; panicle 20 to 
40 cm long, the axis scabrous; racemes numerous, ascending, 2 to 7 cm 
long, single or somewhat fascicled, distant below but overlapping, 
stiffly pilose at base and sparsely so along the scabrous or hispidulous 
rachis; spikelets about 3 mm long, rather loosely arranged along the 
rachis, scabrous or slightly hispidulous on the nerves, glabrous or 
nearly so on the internerves; sterile lemma mucronate or with an 
awn 1 to 2 mm long; fruit about 2.5 em long, mucronate (fig. 297). 
Brackish marshes and ditches, Guadeloupe. Common in tropical 
Africa; introduced in Guadeloupe.” 
78 In 1919 the author observed this species on the island of Guadeloupe, where it is abundant in one local- 
ity. Later he had the opportunity of examining Echinochloa pyramidalis in tropical Africa where it is com- 
mon, and he is of the opinion that the Guadeloupe plant is the same as the African species. Wiegand 
(Rhodora 23: 63. 1921) described the Guadeloupe plant as a distinct species. 
