PASPALUM BLODGETII Chapman.
It would seem best to maintain the above name, although per haps not the oldest, for the plants that have been referred to P. caespitasuni Fluegge. Chapman's type is preserved in the Her barium of Columbia University, so that the positive identification of that species is possible. One of the forms which has been placed here is very different and surely worthy of specific rank. I have taken it out and described it below as new. Its differences from the plants here under consideration are there pointed out.
The reason which seems to make it desirable to maintain Chapman's name instead of Fluegge's is the inability to make the plants in my possession, which have been referred to P. caespitosuin, agree with the description of Fluegge. He says, among his dif ferentiating characters, that the scales are 5-nerved and the rachis as broad as the spikelets. In all the specimens at my disposal
the scales are only 3-nerved and the rachis but one-half to two thirds as wide as the spikelets. If this should be found to be true in all the specimens that have been referred to this species it would throw considerable doubt upon the validity of past deter minations. As no certainty is possible in the matter of Fluegge's name until his type can be seen, it would seem preferable to adopt, for the present at least, Chapman's name, about which there can be no doubt, as above stated. The P. caespitosum folium of Dr. Vasey would seem to me hardly worthy of the rank of a variety, as both long and short leaves occur on the same plant.