Diectomis fastigiata (Sw.) P. Beauv.

Diectomis fastigiata (Sw.) Beauv. Agrost. 150, 160. 1812
Andropogon fastigiatus Svj . Prodr. 26. 1788. Pa Uinta fastigiata Spreng. Pugill. 2 : 13. 1815. Andropogon Hochstetteri Steud. Syn. Gram. 384. 1854. Heteropogon Hochstetteri Schweini. Beitr. Fl. Aeth. 310. 1867. Sorgum fas iigia turn Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 791. 1891.
Stems up to 1 m. tall, branched, the branches in l's-3's; leaf-sheaths loose, keeled; ligules 5-10 mm. long, broader than the leaf-blades; blades of the innovations up to 3 dm. long, 1-4 mm. wide, glabrous, or sparsely ciliate at the base, rough on both surfaces; spike-like racemes 4-8 cm. long, the intemodes shorter than the sessile spikelets, ciliate on the margins with white spreading hairs; sessile spikelet 4-5 mm. long, the first scale with an obtuse callus nearly 1 mm. long, 2-nerved in addition to the hispidulous keels, the center of the upper part pilose with long hairs, the second scale obovate-cuneate, the keel long-ciliate, the awn 3-4 times as long as the scale, the fourth scale about one half as long as the second, ciliolate, elliptic, the awn 3.5-4.5 mm. long, glabrous, the dark-brown straight or indistinctly geniculate column about one half as long as the yellow subula ; pedicellate spikelet with the first scale herbaceous, curved-obovate, flat, 15-nerved or more, bearing a straight awn as long as itself, the second scale half as long as the first, membranous, bearing a short awn, the fourth scale long-ciliate, muticous.
Type locality : Jamaica.
Distribution ; Tropics.