BOTANY OF THE MAYA AREA


I. Oryza sativa L. Sp. PI. 333. 1753. Aroz, RICE
 Annual; culms erect, about 1 m. tall; blades mostly 20 to 40 cm. long,
1.5 cm. wide, flat, scabrous; panicles dense, becoming topheavy; spikelets
7 to 10 mm. long, hispid, usually awnless. Cultivated, sometimes persistent
in old fields. Warmer regions of the world.
 GUATEMALA. Pet6n: La Libertad, Lundell 3601.

2. Orya alta Swallen sp. nov.
 Oryza latifolia var. grandispiculis Cher:alier. Rev. Bot. Appl. 12: 1027. 1932 (in
 part). Two specimens are cited. Dahlgren and Seila 60 collected at Boa Vista,
 Par-. Brazil, and Morong 949 collected near the Pilcomayo River, Paraguay.
 The first better fits the description.
 Perennis; culmi erecti, 3-4 m. alti. glabri; vaginam internodiis breviores,
auriculate, marginibus hispido-ciliats; laminae plane, acuminatae, 25-80 cm.
long, 20 to 28 mm. late, scaberula, marginibus scabris; ligula mem-
brancea, hispido-ciliata, 5 mm. long; panicula 30-40 cm. long, languida,
ramis ad 15 cm. longis basi nudis; spicula 8-9 mm. longer, appressae;
glumae acuminate, lunate, 4 mm. longer; lemma carina et marginibus
hispidis; arista scabra 2-3 cm. long.
 Perennial; culms erect or leaning, 3 to more than 4 m. tall, glabrous;
sheaths shorter than the internodes, auriculate, glabrous, the margins usually
hispid-ciliate; ligule membranaceous, lacerate to hispid ciliate, 5 mm. long;
blades flat, acuminate, 25 to 80 cm. long, 20 to 28 mm. wide, scaberulous,
the margins scabrous-serrulate; panicles open, drooping, 30 to 40 cm. long,
the branches rather distant, densely pilose in the axils, naked on the lower
half, the lower whorled, as much as 15 cm. long; spikelets 8 to 9 mm. long,
appressed on the short branchlets, the lateral short-pedicellate, the terminal
long-pedicellate; glumes lunate, narrow, acuminate, 1-nerved, about half as
long as the spikelet; lemma minutely pitted, hispid on the keels and margins,
unsymmetrically narrowed at the summit to a short scabrous beak, terminat-
ing in a scabrous or somewhat appressed-hispid awn 2 to 3 cm. long;
palea slightly longer than the lemma, similar in texture, terminating in a
hispid beak about 1 mm. long.
 Type in the U. S. Nat. Herb. Nos. 1614041 and 1614042, collected in
water, margin of the Amazon at Obidos, Para, Brazil, July 19-20, 1934, by
Jason R. Swallen (No. 5116).
 Swamps, margins of rivers and lakes, British Honduras, Brazil, and
Paraguay.
 BRITISH HONDURAS. Stann Creek District: Stann Creek, Schipp 889.
 BRAZIL. Para: Obidos, Swallen 5116. Boa Vista, Tapajos River, Swallen
3186; Dahlgren and SeUa 60. Para, Myers 2646.
 PARAGUAY. Lake Ypacaray: Hassler 12602, 12602a.

3. Oryza latifolia Desv. Journ. de Bot. Dcsv. 1: 77. 1813.
 Perennial; culms rather coarse, erect, mostly 1 to 2 m. tall, glabrous;
blades mostly 30 to 50 cm. long, 1 to 3.5 cm. wide, rather thin, scabrous;
panicles about 30 cm. long; spikelets 5 mm. long, appressed, hispidulous,
the awns 1 to 2 cm. long or sometimes wanting. Ditches, marshes, and along
rivers, British Honduras and the West Indies to Brazil.
 BRITISH HoNDunAs. Toledo District: Columbia River, Sampson 15.