Tripsacum latifolium Hitchc.

Tripsacum latifolium Hitchc. Bot. Gaz. 41 : 294. 1906
Stems stout, up to 2-3 m. tall, from stout horizontal rootstocks ; leaf -sheaths glabrous, or pubescent at the apex ; blades up to 7 dm. long and 4.5 cm. wide, long-acuminate, flat, the upper surface pubescent ; spikes on the branches usually single, 1-3 at the summit of the stem, 1-3 dm. long and more slender than in T. dactyloides ', with the pistillate portion 81
2-3 mm. in diameter; staminate spikelets 3-4 mm. long, the outer scales oblong, rounded at the apex.
Type locality : Cubilquitz, Department Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.
Distribution : Guatemala and Honduras.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence 2-6 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2 or more cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Flowers unisexual, Plants monoecious, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet 3-10 mm wide, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets unisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Inflorescence branches deciduous, falling intact, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Monoecious - staminate and pistillate spikelets on same inflor escence, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.