398 



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



I 



obtusa, 1.5-2 ram longa, summo sparse pilosa; gluma secunda 2.5-3 mm longa, 

 mucronata; lemma sterile 3-5 mm longum, obtusum; lemma fertile 5 mm longum, 

 obtusum, glabrum, summo minute ciliatae, crassum; palea lemma aequans vel 

 superans. 



Leafy shoots 1.5 m tall; flowering culms 3-4 m tall, the flowering branches in 

 fascicles of 1-4; sheaths of the branches about 7 cm long, crowded, glabrous, the 

 back thickened, with a very short, minutely ciliate rim at the summit; ligule thick, 

 1-1.5 mm long; blades lanceolate, acute, 18 cm to more than 20 cm long, 4-5 cm 

 wide, or the uppermost smaller, broadly rounded at the base but not cordate, 

 glabrous, the margins somewhat scabrous; inflorescence 60-75 cm long, the 

 numerous racemes stiffly ascending or spreading, the lower somewhat distant, 

 3-4 cm long, becoming gradually shorter upward, the tip dense, spikelike, the 

 axis, branches and pedicels pubescent; spikelets appressed, 3-4-flowered, the 

 uppermost floret reduced or rudimentary, first glume narrow, acute or subobtuse, 

 1.5-2 mm long, with a few hairs at the summit; second glume similar to the first, 

 2.5-3 mm long, the thick midnerve excurrent in a short mucro; sterile lemma 3.5 

 mm long, obtuse, the midnerve thickened at the summit, sometimes excurrent, 

 bearing a few short hairs; first fertile floret 5 mm long, the lemma obtuse, gla- 

 brous, the tip sometimes minutely ciliate, the midnerve thickened at summit, but 

 not excurrent; palea equlaling the lemma or slightly exceeding it. 



TYPE: summit, at edge of escarpment in and among zanjones, alt. 2165-2180 

 m, Chimanta Massif, Torono-tepui, Bolivar, Venezuela, February 9, 1955, Julian 

 A. Steyermark & John J. Wurdack 658 (US 2,182,096). 



19. Myriocladus wurdackii Swallen, sp. nov. (Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 9:248, f.4,f.) 



Culmi usque ad 4 m alti, summo ramis 2-3, 100-110 cm longis; vaginarum 

 pars manifesta 1-2 cm longa, glabra, subtruncata, in ore firabriata; laminae 15- 

 20 cm longae, 2.7-4.7 cm latae, acuminatae, basi 4 mm latae, glabrae, marginibus 

 plus minusve scabrae; inflorescentia 30-38 cm longa, 5-6 cm lata, multiramosa, 

 axe hirsuto; rami divirgentes, hirsuti, inferiores ramulis* brevibus patentibus; 

 spiculae flosculis fertilibus 1 vel 2, distantibus; rachilla gracilis, glabra, inter 

 lemma sterile et lemma fertile 1.5 mm longa; gluma prima 2-2.5 mm longa, an- 

 gusta, acuta vel subobtusa, in parte superior hispidula; gluma secunda latior, 

 3-3.5 mm longa; lemma sterile 3.5-4 mm longum, obtusum, apice hispidulum; 

 flosculi primi lemma 4-4.5 mm longum, lemma sterile simulans; palea lemma 1 mm 

 superans, apice angusta, hispidula, carinis plus minusve scabris vel ciliatis. 



Culms as much as 4 m high, with two or three flowering branches at the sum- 

 mit, these 100-110 cm long; exposed portion of the sheaths about 1-2 cm long, or 

 the upper somewhat elongate, glabrous, the rim relatively thin, about 0.5 mm long, 

 glabrous or minutely ciliate, the throat somewhat rounded, fimbriate; blades 15- 

 20 cm long, 2.7-4.7 cm wide or the uppermost smaller, acuminate, gradually 

 rounded to the base, this about 4 mm wide, scarcely petiolate, much narrower 

 than the mouth of the sheath, glabrous on both surfaces, the margins more or less 

 scabrous; inflorescence 30-38 cm long, 5-6 cm wide, the numerous branches 

 stiffly spreading, at least the lower ones with short divergent branchlets in the 

 lower half, the main axis and branches hirsute; spikelets with 1 or 2 fertile 

 florets and a rudiment, the florets distant, the rachilla slender, glabrous, the 

 segment above the sterile lemma 1.5 mm long, the segment above the first fertile 

 floret 2 mm long, the segment above the second fertile floret 2.5 mm long; first 

 glume 2-2.5 mm long, narrow, acute or subobtuse, the tip and the upper part of 

 the midnerve and the margins hispidulous; second glume 3-3.5 mm long, similar to 

 the first but broader; sterile lemma 3.5-4 mm long, obtuse, the tip hispidulous, 



