Notes on Malesian grasses. IV. A synopsis of Centotheca and reduction of Ramosia

In 1916 Merrill described a new monotypic genus of Gramineae, Ramosia, from the Philippines, recording one species, R. philippinensis, based on one single collection by Ramos, BS 23607, from Lake Pulog, Sorsogon Prov., Luzon, 27-8-1915, where the plant grew along the border of the lake, either in wet swampy places or in shallow water. Except for the type no other specimens have ever been mentioned, nor encountered during this study. Merrill could not place his new genus with certainty, comparing it with Panicum nodosum Kunth and Glyceria. In 1923 he placed it near Festuca and Bromus. The genus was not taken up by C. E. Hubbard (1934), while Pilger (1954) placed it provisionally in Festuceae—Melicinae. The late Dr. Jansen saw an isotype in Kew and noted in his MS ‘giving the impression of a small Centotheca’, postponing a decision.