1957] 



BOTANY OF THE CHIMANTA MASSIF— I 



395 



spiculatae, axe pedicellisque dense pubescentibus; rachilla pilosa; glumae 

 obtusae, pubescentes, prima 1.5-2.5 mm longa, secunda 2-3 mm longa, ple- 

 rumque arista crassa ca. 1 mm longa; lemma sterile 4 mm longum, sparse pu- 

 bescens, ad summum compressum, apice glabrum; lemma fertile 5-5.2 mm longum, 

 lemma sterile simulans, ad summum pubescens; palea lemma aequans vel supe- 

 rans, concava, in parte superiore pubescens, apice angusta, truncata, dense 

 hispidula, carinis hispido-ciliatis. 



Culms densely tufted, without elongate internodes, wiry, erect from a knotty, 

 rhizomatous base, simple or with a few primary branches from some of the upper 

 nodes, the flowering culms 50-75 cm tall, apparently with some shorter sterile 

 culms intermixed; internodes mostly 2-3 cm long; sheaths much shorter than the 

 internodes, becoming crowded and overlapping toward the top of the sterile culms 

 and on the primary branches, persistent, the blades deciduous except the flower- 

 ing portion, strigose-pubescent, truncate, fimbriate in the throat, the rim some- 

 what thickened but inconspicuous; blades 10-17 mm long, about 2 mm wide, 

 rigid, appressed, rounded at the base to a short, thick petiole much narrower than 

 the mouth of the sheath, bluntly acute, strongly nerved, the margins rather 

 sparsely appressed scabrous or hispid, otherwise glabrous; inflorescence not 

 more than 2 cm long with 3-5 appressed spikelets, partly enclosed in the sheath, 

 terminal on the primary branches but usually on very short branchlets, the rachis 

 and pedicels densely pubescent; spikelets 2-flowered, the upper rudimentary, the 

 rachilla pilose, the segment between the sterile and fertile lemma 1 mm long, 

 thick, the segment between the fertile lemma and rudiment more slender, 2.5 mm 

 long; glumes usually obtuse, pubescent, the first mostly 2 mm (1.5-2.5) long, the 

 second 2-3 mm long, commonly with a thick awn almost 1 mm long; sterile lemma 

 4 mm long, sparsely pubescent, somewhat compressed toward the smooth, round, 

 beak-like tip; fertile lemma 5-5-2 mm long, similar to the sterile lemma, pu- 

 bescent only toward the tip, the beak more prominent; palea as long as or some- 

 what longer than the lemma, compressed, deeply concave with very broad margins, 

 pubescent in the upper half, the narrow tip truncate, densely hispidulous, the 

 keels conspicuously hispid-ciliate. 



TYPE: locally frequent, island in Rio Tirica above Middle Falls below Summit 

 Camp, alt. 1925 m, Central Section, Chimanta Massif, Bolivar, Venezuela, 

 February 5, 1955, Julian A. Steyermark & John J. Wurdack 489 (US 2,182,094). 



2. Myriocladus steyermarkii Swallen, sp. nov. (Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 9 : 247,/. 3, cl) 

 Culmi erecti, graciles, ca. 90 cm alti, summo ramosi, in parte 1/3 inferiore 

 6-nodosi, internodiis 6-11 cm longis et vaginis L5-2 cm longis; rami 9-17 cm 

 longi ramulis brevibus appressis; vaginarum pars manifesta ca. 5 mm longa, 

 strigosa, truncata, in ore fimbriata; laminae 9-14 mm longae, 1.5-2 mm latae, 

 appressae, nervosae, brevipetiolatae, marginibus scabrae; inflorescentia usque 

 ad 1.5 cm longa, 3-5-spiculata, axe pedicellisque dense pubescentibus; spi- 

 culae 2-florae, superior reducta; glumae acutae vel breviaristatae, pubescentes, 

 ciliatae, prima 1-2.5 mm longa, secunda 2-2.5 mm longa; lemma sterile 3-3.5 mm 

 longum, obtusum, pubescens, ciliatum; lemma fertile 3.8-4.2 mm longum, lemma 

 sterile simulans; palea lemmate sterile longior, inter carinam pubescens, carinis 

 ciliata, apice angusta, truncata. 



Explanation of figure 74 



FIG. 74. Myriocladus gracilis Swallen. a, plant, X x / 2 \ b, spikelet, X 5; c, junction of 

 sheath and blade, X 5. Drawings by LaVerne Helen Richardson. 



