396 



MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN [Vol. 9, No. 3 



\ 



Culms erect, wiry, about 90 cm high, with numerous slender branches on the 

 upper third, the lower part about 6-noded, the internodes 6-11 cm long, the 

 persistent sheaths 1.5-2 cm long; branches 9-17 cm long, with short appressed 

 branchlets above the middle; exposed portion of sheaths about 5 mm long, stri- 

 gose-pubescent, truncate, fimbriate in the throat, the rim inconspicuous; ligule 

 about 0.3 mm long; blades 9-14 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, appressed, firm, strongly 

 nerved, rounded at the base to a short, thick petiole, the margins appressed- 

 scabrous; panicles not more than 1.5 cm long, just exserted from the sheath, 

 bearing 3-5 short-pedicellate, appressed spikelets, the axis and pedicels densely 

 pubescent; spikelets 2-flowered, the upper floret rudimentary, the rachilla- 

 segment between the sterile lemma and fertile floret 0.5 mm long, glabrous, the 

 segment between the fertile floret and rudiment 1.5 mm long, glabrous, or pu- 

 bescent toward the top; glumes pubescent, ciliate, often with a stout awn 0.5-1.5 

 mm long, the first 1-2.5 mm long, the second 2-2.5 mm long, not including the 

 awn; sterile lemma 3-3.5 mm long, obtuse, pubescent, ciliate, the midnerve 

 thickened at the tip; fertile lemma similar to the sterile lemma, 3-8-4.2 mm long; 

 palea distinctly longer than the lemma, pubescent between the keels and on the 

 margins in the upper half, the keels ciliate, the tip narrow, truncate. 



TYPE: frequent, rocky escarpment between west and east branches of Rio 

 Tirica, alt, 2260 m, Central Section, Chimanta Massif, Bolivar, Venezuela, 

 February 13, 1955, Julian A. Steyermark & John J. Wurdack 819 (US 2,182,095). 



14. Myriocladus variabilis Swallen, sp. nov. (Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 9:248,/.4,<z.) 



Culmi rhizomatosi, erecti, graciles, usque ad 3 m alti, summo ramis 2, 55-65 

 cm longis; vaginae paucae, 5-6 cm longae, suprema longior, glabrae, in ore dense 

 fimbriatae, ligula exteriore tenui, 1 mm longa, erosa vel ciliata; laminae 24-28 cm 

 longae, 4.3-4.8 cm latae, acuminatae, glabrae, petiolatae, marginibus scabrae; 

 culmorum sterilium laminae 28-29 cm longae, 5-6 cm latae, marginibus scabris- 

 simae; panicula 38-50 cm longa, ramis paucifloris patentibus, inferioribus usque 

 ad 10 cm longis ramulis brevibus distantibus divergentibus^ superioribus brevibus 

 unifloris; spiculae 1-1.5 cm longae, distantes, appressae vel patentes, pedicellis 

 usque ad 5 mm longis, floribus fertilibus 2-5; glumae variabiles, angustissimae, 

 subattenuatae, vel latae, acutae vel breviaristatae, hispadae, prima 1.5-3 mm 

 longa vel nulla, secunda 2-5.5 mm longa; lemma sterile 3-4.5 mm longum, acutum 

 vel subobtusum, rare mucronatum, summo hispidulum; lemma fertile primum 4.5- 

 5.5 mm longum, subacutum, summo hispidulum; palea quam lemma multo brevior 

 vel longior, abrupte acuta vel anguste truncata, inter carinam sparse pilosa, 

 summo hispidula. 



Flowering culms as much as 3 m high, erect from rhizomes, relatively slender, 

 about 4 mm thick near the base, with two small groups of shortened internodes, 

 the upper group bearing two branches; sheaths few, 5-6 cm long, the uppermost 

 longer, glabrous, the rim rather thin, 1 mm long, minutely erose or ciliate, densely 

 fimbriate in the throat, the hairs elongate, tangled; blades 24-28 cm long, 4.3- 

 4.8 cm wide, acuminate, rounded to a thick, petiole-like base about 2 mm long, 

 glabrous, scabrous on the margins; blades of sterile culms 28-29 cm long, 5-6 cm 

 wide, the margins very scabrous; inflorescence 38-50 cm long, open, the lower 

 branches as much as 10 cm long, with short, distant, divergent branchlets, be- 

 coming shorter upward, but not crowded, bearing 3 or 4 spikelets, or those at the 

 summit with a single spikelet, the axis and branches densely villous; spikelets 

 1-1.5 cm long, distant, appressed or stiffly spreading, with 2-5 fertile florets, 

 the pedicels as much as 5 mm long; glumes very variable, very narrow, subat- 

 tenuate, to rather broad, acute, sometimes with a short awn, hispid at least at the 



