The new combination Eriochrysis fliformis (Hackel) Filgueiras is made based on Saccharum filiforme Hackel. A full description of the species is given based on recent collections. Leptosaccharum was originally described as a monotypic subgenus of Saccharum L. by Hackel (1889) based on a collection of Balansa (no. 231) taken at Caaguazu, Paraguay. This subgenus later became the basis for the establishment of the genus Leptosaccharum by Camus (1923), with a single species, L. filiforme (Hackel) Camus. While proposing his new genus, Camus (1923) made a mistake citing the basionym, i.e., he cited Andropogon filiforme Hack. This error was later corrected (Camus, 1956), i.e., Saccharum filiforme Hackel. The genus remained little known for several decades. This was perhaps principally due to the fact that its only species is rarely collected and therefore poorly represented herbarium collections. It is intriguing to realize that most authors who dealt with this genus failed to see its relationship with the Andropogoneae (Camus, 1923, 1956; Smith & Wasshausen, 1977, 1981; Nicora & R6golo, 1987); instead they placed it the Paniceae. Watson and Dallwitz (1992) are an exception for they placed the genus the Andropogoneae. It was only 1986 that Clayton and Renvoize reduced Leptosaccharum to a synonym of Eriochrysis Beauv., although without offering any evidence to support their decision. Careful examination of recent collections of this species proved that indeed it belongs Eriochrysis. The plants are perennials, with pilose nodes, the inflorescence is a reduced panicle, covered with rufous hairs, the rachis is fragile, the pedicels display unequal length, and the spikelets are paired, one bisexual and the other feminine. Both spikelets are similar size and shape, although the feminine is slightly smaller. The lower glume is chartaceous, fringed with rufous hairs at the margins. These are all diagnostic features of Eriochrysis. In Watson and Dallwitz (1992) Leptosaccharum is considered both as distinct (p. 377) and as a synonym of Eriochrysis (p. 513). These authors presented a detailed anatomical description of the genus but misinterpreted its spikelet organization when they described the spikelets as solitary and only hermaphroditic and the lower glume as missing. None of the material examined by me (an isotype, plus nine collections from Brazil) presented any of these gross morphological features. Based on all the available evidence, the formal transfer of Leptosaccharum fliforme to Eriochrysis is made herein. Eriochrysis filiformis (Hackel) Filgueiras, comb. nov. Basionym: Saccharumfiliforme Hackel, A. L. P. P. de Candolle & A. C. P. de Candolle, Monogr. phan. 6: 127. 1889. TYPE. Paraguay. Caaguaza [Caaguazu]: in pratis uliginosis, s.a., Balansa 231 (holotype, P not seen; isotype, US). Since no recent description of this species is available anywhere, it seems appropriate to provide a detailed description here. Densely caespitose perennials; rhizomes short, knotty. Culms 2-4-noded, erect, unbranched their vegetative portions, 30-55 cm long; internodes hollow, glabrous, stramineous to purplish; nodes densely pilose. Leaves mostly basal; sheaths rounded at the back, strongly striate, glabrous, both margins glabrous; auricles absent; ligule membranous, hyaline, 1-1.5 mm long, pilose at the apex; hairs at the apex of the ligule pale, 2-3 mm long; blades flat to inrolled upon drying, linear to setaceous, 10-45 cm long and 1-3 mm wide, smooth and glabrous on the abaxial side, glabrescent and rough on the adaxial side, apex acute to subpungent. Inflorescence a contracted, terminal, rufous panicle, 4-7 cm long and 0.5-0.8 cm wide; inflorescence rachis easily breaking at maturity, pilose, the hairs rufous. Pedicels of unequal length, short and long, the short 2-3 mm long, the long one 46 m long. Spikelets paired, similar, elliptical; the short-pedicelled spikelet 4.5-5.5 mm long, bisexual, with a ring of rufous hairs at the base, the hairs 2-4 mm long; lower glume 4-4.8 mm long, chartaceous, glabrescent to pilose, 5-7-nerved, the nerves prominent; upper glume similar to the lower one, 3.5-4 mm long, chartaceous, glabrescent to pilose, 5-7-nerved, the nerves prominent; lemma hyaline, 3-3.3 mm long, shortly pilose, margins cilNovoN 7: 231-233. 1997. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.17 on Fri, 02 Sep 2016 06:06:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms