A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

GRAMINEAE 99
1.5 mm long, the first and second glumes less than one-half as long as the
flowering glume.
In waste places, roadsides, etc., scattered, fl. all the year; widely distributed
in the Philippines. India to China and Malaya.
2. S. virginicus (L.) Kunth.
A rather slender perennial grass with prostrate, creeping stems, the
erect or ascending flowering branches 8 to 30 cm high. Leaves close-set
2-ranked, spreading, convolute when dry, 1.5 to 7 cm long. Panicles
rather dense, spike-like, pale, 5 to 6 cm long. Spikelets about 1.5 mm
long, the first and second glumes acute, nearly as long as the flowering
glume.
In open grassy places along tidal streams, Malate, Malabon, etc., fl.
June-Sept. Along the seashore throughout the tropics and in some temperate
regions.
33. ARISTIDA Linnaeus
Annual or perennial, slender or coarse, erect grasses, the leaves slender.
Spikelets usually in lax panicles, 1-flowered. Glumes 3, the first and
second empty, narrow, keeled, persistent, the third narrow, rigid, cylin-
dric or convolute, acuminate, the tip produced into a long, 3-partite,
naked or feathery a\vn which is often twisted below the branches. (Latin
"awn" in allusion to the awned flowering glumes.)
Species more than 100 in all warm countries, 3 or 4 in the Philippines.
1. A. cumingiana Trin. & Rupr.
A very slender, tufted, glabrous, annual grass 6 to 30 cm high. Leaves
filiform, up to 10 cm long. Panicles purple, open, lax, 5 to 12 cm long,
the branches and pedicels capillary. Spikelets purple, long-pedicelled,
lanceolate, 3 to 3.5 mm long, the second glume longer than the first, the
flowering-glume about as long as the first, the awn slender, 8 to 10 mm
long, the lateral arms about one-half as long as the median one.
In open dry grass lands. La Loma, Masambong, etc., fl. Dec.-Feb.;
widely distributed in the Philippines but of local occurrence. India to
China; also in tropical Africa.
34. DIPLACHNE Beauvois
Tall, tufted, annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat, narrow. Spikelets
many-flowered, spicately arranged on the slender branches of a simple
panicle, the spikes not jointed at the base; rachilla jointed at the base
and beneath each flowering glume, not produced beyond the uppermost
glume. First and second glumes empty, unequal, obtuse, thin, 1-nerved,
persistent. Flowering glumes several, oblong, 1- to 3-nerved, 2- to 4toothed
at the tips, mucronate or awned. Grain free within the glumes
and palea. (Greek "two" and "lobed" in allusion to the toothed or lobed
flowering glumes.)
Species about 15, in most warm regions, one in the Philippines.
1. D. fusca (L.) Beauv.
A tufted, rather stout, erect, glabrous grass, 40 cm to 1 m high. Leaves
6 to 50 cm long, 6 mm wide or less, flat, scabrid, the sheaths smooth. Pani-
cles exserted, 10 to 30 cm long, pale-green, erect or nodding, the spikes
numerous, spreading or ascending, alternate, slender, 5 to 11 cm long.
Spikelets rather distant, 7 to 10 mm long, linear, 5- to 8-flowered.