Arthrostylidium farctum (Aubl.) Soderstr. & Lourteig
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Scandent perennial herb; culms 3—5(—15) m long, 0.2-1 cm diam., repeatedly branching; culm leaf sheaths bearing prominent ciliate hairs; adaxial ligules 0.3-0.8 mm long, chartaceous; oral setae in 2 whorls, 5-12 mm long, white, twisted and curled above; blades mostly 1.5-4 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, flat, attenuate toward apex, reflexed. Foliage leaves crowded on short sterile branchlets arranged in capillary whorls; sheath with ciliolate margins, the hairs 0.1-0.2 mm long; inner ligules 0.1-0.2 mm long, membranous, ciliolate, the outer ligule absent; oral setae in 2 rows, 1-8 mm long, white, mostly straight; blades mostly 2-12 cm long, 0.2-1 mm wide, filiform, tightly involute. Inflorescences 2-10 cm long, spicate, bearing 3-7 spikelets; pedicels 0.5-1.3 mm long. Spikelets 8-11 mm long, linear, appressed to the rachis; lower glume 4-5.5 mm long, 1-nerved, narrowly attenuate; upper glume 5-6.5 mm long, linear-lanceolate, 3-nerved; lemmas 3.8- 5.5 mm long, 7-9-nerved with ciliolate margins near apex; paleas nearly as long as or slightly longer than the lemma. Caryopsis not seen.
Distribution and Ecology - Occasional in wooded slopes, forest margins, and dry thickets. Along road to Ajax Peak (A2652). Also on St. Thomas; Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
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Discussion
Note: This species flowers only sporadically; it has never been collected in flower on St. John.