Comprehensive Description
provided by North American Flora
Imperata contracta (H.B.K.) Hitchc. Rep. Mo. Bot
Gard. 4 ■ 146. 1893.
Saccharum contraclum H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1 : 182. 1816. Saccharum dubium H.B.K. Nov. Gen. &' Sp. 1 : 183. 1816. Saccharum caudatum G. Meyer, Fl. Esseq. 68. 1818. Anatherum portoricense Spreng. Syst. 1 : 290. 1825. Anatherum caudatum Sieber ; R. & S. Syst. Veg. Slant. 2 : '445. 1824. Imperata caudata Trin. Mem.. Acad. St. Petersb. VI. 2: 331. 1832. Imperala exaltaia caudata Hack, in DC. Motiog. Phan. 6 : 99. 1889.
Stems usually 1 m. tall or more; leafsheaths smooth and glabrous, or the basal ones sometimes pubescent; blades up to 6 dm. long, 1 cm. wide or less, long-acuminate, much narrowed toward the base, hirsute on the upper surface toward the base ; panicle up to 4 dm. long, narrowed toward the apex, if,s lower branches elongated, lax and ascending ; spikelets 3-4.5 mm. long, the involucral hairs 2-3 times as long.
Type locality : On banks of the Magdalena River, Colombia.
Distribution : Mexico and Central America ; Porto Rico ; Guadeloupe ; Dominica : Martinique ; also in South America.
- bibliographic citation
- Percy Wilson, Per Axel Rydberg, Norman Taylor, Nathaniel Lord Britton, John Kunkel Small, George Valentine Nash. 1909. PANDANALES-POALES; TYPHACEAE, SPARGANACEAE, ELODEACEAE, HYDROCHARITACEAE, ZANNICHELLIACEAE, ZOSTERACEAE, CYMODOCEACEAE, NAIADACEAE, LILAEACEAE, SCHEUCHZERIACEAE, ALISMACEAE, BUTOMACEAE, POACEAE (pars). North American flora. vol 17(1). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
