MANUAL OF THE GRASSES OF THE WEST INDIES 361 
often branching; blades firm, 15 to 40 cm long, 5 to 12 mm wide, 
tapering from the rounded flat base to an attenuate, often involute 
tip; spike 10 to 25 cm long, strict, dense; burs 1-flowered, about 
5 mm high, the bristles united at the base only, the lowest row 
shorter, the inner slender about equaling the spikelet (fig. 331). 
Moist, sandy open ground or scrubland near the coast, southern 
Georgia to Texas, south through Mexico to Argentina; Greater 
Antilles. 
Cusa: Santiago de Cuba, Léon 835. Guantdnamo, Hkman 2858. 
Haiti: Miragoane, Hyerdam 216. Peninsula de Barahona, Ekman 
i 7059. Mole-St.-Nicolas, Ekman H 4493. Tortuga Island, Ekman 
4143. 
Dominican Repusuic: Monte Chico, Ekman H 13171. 
Puerto Rico: Cabo Rojo, Hess 118. Mona Island, Hess 443; 
Britton, Cowell, and Hess 1674. 
2. Cenchrus ekmanianus Hitchc., sp. nov. 
Perennial; culms erect, branched, glabrous, 80 to 100 cm tall; 
sheaths loose, overlapping: ligule about 2 mm long, membranaceous 
below, ciliate above: blades folded, 
glabrous, 15 to 20 em long, 3 to 
5 mm wide, attenuate to a fine 
involute point; spikes short- 
exserted or partially included, 8 
to 12 cm long, the burs crowded, 
the axis angled, flexuous, rather 
stout, pubescent; burs about 7 mm 
high ’Gncluding the bristles), the 
broad turbinate base puberulent; FIGURE 331.—Cenchrus myosuroides. Bur, two 
bristles united for a short dis- views of spikelet, and floret, X 5 (Léon 835). 
tance above the base, the outer 
2 to 3 mm long, scabrous, the inner erect or somewhat spreading, 
puberulent at base; spikelets 1 or 2, about 5 mm long, about as long 
as the inner spines; first glume half as long as the spikelet; second glume 
a little shorter than the sterile and fertile lemmas, these 7-nerved. 
Type in the United States National Herbarium, no. 1502107, col- 
lected in sandy open soil, Monte Chico, Los Siete Hermanos, prov. 
Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic, July 14, 1929, by E. L. Ekman 
(no. H 13172). 
This species is related to C. myosuroides from which it differs in the 
larger burs, the bristles more united at base, and in the stouter, more 
flexuous axis of the spike. Known only from the type collection. 
3. Cenchrus distichophyllus Griseb., Cat. Pl. Cub. 234. 1866. Cuba, 
Wright 3475. 
Plants perennial; culms tufted, rigid, erect or ascending from a 
curved base, the numerous internodes very short, the long leafless 
upper part of the culm appressed-pubescent; blades 1.5 to 2.5 em long, 
about 1.5 mm wide, conspicuously distichous, stiffly spreading at a 
uniform angle and usually about 1 cm apart, involute, sharp-pointed; 
spike 2 to 3 cm long, bearing usually 5 to 7 spreading yellow burs; 
burs, including the spines, 5 to 6 mm long, the body puberulent; 
93 Perennis: culmi glabri ramosi 80-100 cm alti; laminae glabrae 15-20 em longae 3-5 mm latae plicatae 
longe-attenuatae; spicae 8-12 cm longae: inv olucrum circa 7 mm altum; spiculae una vel duae in quoque 
involucro; setae longitudine spicularum, exteriores breviores; gluma prima dimidiam spiculam aequans. 
