BOTANY OF THE MAYA AREA


Appendages of the lemma reduced to scars.
 Culms cmespitose, erect; blades often petiolate .--...--...--... 3. I. lanceolatus
 Culms widely spreading; blades more or less clasping at the base.
 Peduncles not long esserted; blades 5 to 10 cm. long____.. 4. I. pallens
 Peduncles slender, long esserted; blades 1 to 5 cm. long ..... 5. I. tenuis

1. Ichnanthus mexicanus Fourn. Mex. PI. 2: 34. 1886.
 Perennial; culms rather coarse, trailing, more than 3 m. long, glabrous;
 sheaths overlapping or a little shorter than the internodes, densely ciliate
 on the margins, densely villous especially toward the summit, sometimes
 villous only on the collar; blades flat, more or less cordate at the base,
 attenuate pointed, 15 to 35 cm. long, 18 to 30 mm. wide (the uppermost
 reduced), appressed hispid on the upper surface, pubescent or glabrous on
 the lower; panicles 12 to 30 cm. long, densely flowered, the branches in small
 fascicles, stiffly ascending, becoming more or less spreading at maturity,
 spikelet-bearing from the base, as much as 10 cm. long; spikelets 4 to
 4.5 mm. long, short-pedicellate, appressed, solitary or in small clusters;
 first glume acute, half to two thirds as long as the spikelets, villous on the
 margins and at the apex or sometimes only scabrous; second glume and
 sterile lemma equal, scabrous; fruit 3 mm. long, chestnut brown at maturity,
 the appendages ovate-oblong, 0.5 mm. long. Moist ground along creeks,
 Mexico (Oaxaca) and British Honduras.
 BRITISH HONDURAS. Without locality, Kinloch 72.

2. Ichnanthus standleyi Hitchc. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 24: 662. 1930.
 Perennial; culms erect or decumbent spreading, freely branching, rooting
at the nodes, the ascending fertile branches 60 to 75 cm. long, compressed,
papillose, appressed-pilose, or nearly glabrous on the lower part; sheaths
shorter than the internodes, glabrous or sparsely pilose, the margins densely
short-ciliate; ligule densely ciliate, 0.5 mm. long; blades ovate-lanceolate
to broadly lanceolate, 5 to 15 cm. long, 1.5 to 3 cm. wide (rarely smaller),
pilose, scabrous, or nearly glabrous, with thick white scabrous margins, the
petiolate base 2 to 4 mm. long; panicles 5 to 15 cm. long, with 3 to 5 stiffly
ascending or spreading racemes, the lowermost 4 to 5 cm. long, the upper-
most less than 1 cm. long, the main axis terminating with a single spikelet;
rachis of racemes rather thick, triangular, scabrous or pubescent; spikelets
6 to 7 mm. long, more or less crowded; first glume equaling or exceeding
the spikelet, acuminate, 3-nerved, the keel scabrous to papillose-hispid, the
margins papillose-ciliate with weak or coarse spreading hairs; second glume
and sterile lemma equal, 5-nerved, the glume sparsely papillose-pilose to
papillose-hispid on the keel and margins, the sterile lemma subglabrous;
fnrit 3 mm. long, white, with appendages 0.5 mm. long.
 BRITIsH HONDURAS. El Cayo District: Mountain Pine Ridge, Bartlett
11628, 11685.

3. Ichnanthus lanceolatus Scribn. & Smith, U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Agrost. Bull. 4: 36.
 1897.
 Perennial; culms erect or decumbent at the base, 30 to 90 cm. tall; blades
ovate to lanceolate, as much as 11 cm. long and 3 cm. wide, frequently
petiolate; panicle 5 to 15 cm. long, the branches stiffly ascending; spikelets
4 to 4.3 mm. long; first glume acute, clasping, half as long as the spikelet;
second glume and sterile lemma strongly nerved, exceeding the fruit.
Forests and open brushy places, Yucatan Peninsula.