Fuirena umbellata Rottb.

Fuirena umbellata Rottb. Descr. & Ic. 70. 1773
Fuirena paniculata L. f. Suppl. 105. 1781.
Fuirena camptotricha C. Wright in Sauv. Anal. Acad. Ci. Habana 8: 8-2. 1871. Fuirena tereticulmis Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 180. 1828, fide Bock. Linnaea 37: 111 (1871). (Acapulco, Mexico.)
Perennial with short, thick rootstocks, occasionally tuber-bearing; culms usually stout
(6-15 dm. tall), erect, often 4-angled, with loose sheaths; leaves flat, 7-16 cm. long, 5-25 mm.
wide, glabrous or sparingly pilose ; panicles pilose, 1-5, terminal and in the upper leaf-axils ;
spikelets numerous in capitate clusters, acute, oblong to linear-oblong, 6-10 mm. long, the
scales greenish-brown, pubescent, aristate, with spreading or recurved awns ; perianth-scales
nearly sessile, obovate, membranous and translucent, the apex tipped by a falcate to recurved,
capillary seta ; scales a little longer than the smooth, short-beaked, trigonous achene ;
anthers 1 mm. long.
Type locality : Suriname.
Distribution : Meadows and marshes : Mexico to Panama ; Cuba ; Jamaica ; Hispaniola ; Puerto Rico ; Guadeloupe to Trinidad ; tropical South America ; Old World tropics.