ERIANTHUS LAXUS Culms erect, stoutish, 2-3 metres tall, pubescent with appressed hairs, toward the base scanty and short, at the apex longer and copious. Nodes densely pubescent with appressed grayish hairs ; sheaths striate; the inner surface spotted and tinged with red brown, the outer surface densely hirsute with ascending gray hairs, the lower sheaths throughout, the upper ones only at the base and apex, with the intermediate portion but sparingly pubescent ; li gule 3-4 mm. long, rounded at the apex, irregularly lacerate toothed ; leaves flat, 2-5 dm. long, 6-12 mm. wide, long-acumi nate at the apex, a little narrowed toward the base, rough on the margins, hirsute on both surfaces, the upper surface becoming glabrous when old ; panicle gray in hue, 4-5 dm. long, t dm. wide or less, loose, the main axis copiously pubescent with long, silky appressed hairs, as are also the elongated lax and flexuous ascend ing branches, the larger of which are 2-2.5 dm. long ; internodes of the rachis densely pubescent with silky hairs, 6-8 mm. long, the lower internodes much exceeding the spikelets ; spikelets 4-5 mm.
long, one-half as long as the basal hairs, and about one-half again as long as the clavellate pedicels, which are pubescent with very short appressed hairs, and also with fewer long ascending hairs ; outer scales of the spikelet pubescent with long hairs, at least at first, the first scale slightly 2-toothed at the apex, the second sim ilar, but not so distinctly nerved, the third scale pubescent on or near the margins toward the apex, the fourth scale glabrous, or with a few hairs at the apex, purple on the margins, acuminate into a scabrous, untwisted, straight or somewhat contorted awn about 2 cm. long.
Collected by Mr. W. T. Swingle in a wet hammock between Paola and the Wekiva River, along the J. T. & K. W. R. R., on Aug. 22, 1894, No. 1732a of my first distribution of Florida plants.
The elongated branches of the panicle, the long internodes of the rachis, and the longer basal hairs of the spikelet distinguish this at once from any form of E. saccharoides, to which it is re lated.