74 CLXXiiL GRAJiiNE.E. (J. D. Hooker.) [Arundinella. 



Stems 1-5 ft., from the thickness of u sparrow's to a goose quill, simple or branched, 



updes glabrous or pubescent. Leaves 6-12 by ^-| in., usually ciliaie at the nnrroff 



base; Hgule of soft hairs. Panicle 4-18 iw.y brnnehes 1-10 in., few or many, 



fascicled or subverticilhite, densely or laxly imbricating, usually slender and undirided. 



Spikelets distant or crowded, green or purplish j el, I sometimes very sparingly 



setofe; III male or neuter, rarely imperfectly bisexual ; IV always bearded at the 



base, column of awn more or less twisted. — An abundant grass in many parts 



of India, but so variable that it is difficult to formulate a character for it that 



will not include other species. Dr. Stapf has aided me in the examination of 



amass of Indian specimens, including many hundreds collected by Clarke over tbe 



length and breadth of India; and especially in the more important matter of 



identifying ^. nepalens'is with the American A, hrasiliensis^ and various others her^ 



brought together as synonyms. The largest form is Wallich's 86 i6 A, with a stow 



creeping woody rhizome, sheathed surculi as thick as a goose-quill, a stout stem 5 



It. high, broad often hirsute leaves, and a large panicle 6-12 in. long of spikelets , 



in. long; it is a tropical and subtropical plant extending in the Himalaya iroffl 



Kumaon eastward, and is common in the Khasia Hills. Wallich's 8666 B (from the 



Calcutta Bot, Gardens?) is a tall much more slender plant, with matted roots, ve^ 



narrow leaves with tubercle-based hairs, and a slender thin panicle. His 8667 A. B. 



from Burma, is a tall plant with soft hiiiry leaves ^-J in. broad, and an effuse §ul)- 



pyramidal panicle with fascicled capillary branches and smaller spikelets about \ i^* 



long. It is common throughout the lower Himalaya and Khasia Hills. Another 



variety, with a straggling branching rootstock, proliferously fascicled braacb^ 



sheathed at the base, short or long glabrous or hairy linear-lanceolate leaves, an 



small oblong panicles v^ith few slender branches and few spikelets, occurs at elevation^ 



of 4-6000 ft. Lastly, there is a common Himalayan slender form from the Fanja 



eastwards, six inches to a foot high, with tufted roots, very narrow leaves, a sro 

 oidong panicle, and small spikelets. A. Ritchiei, Munro, is a tall stout Concau ior^^ 

 2 J ft, high, with a shortly creeping rootstock, narrow obscurely hairy convolft 

 leaves, a very narrow panicle, and pale small spikelets. 



14. A. fXiscata, Nees ex Buese in Miq. PL Jungh. 359 ; perennial, stout, 

 rather short, leaves short flat hirsute, panicle oblong dense-fld. usually P^^' 

 plish, rachia stout pubescent or villous, branches crowded erect, spikel^jj 

 ^-^in. secund crowded sessile or shortly pedicelled glabrous or sparseij 

 setose, gl. 1 = JII broadly ovate acuminate 3-5-nerved, II ovate-lanceolate 

 acuminate S-nerved, 111 obtuse or truncate 5-nerved, IV oblong-lanc(*<>" 

 late emarginate scabrid, awn short. Steud. SynMram.\l^\ ^^^^^^* ^ 

 n. 1667; A. purpurea, Hochst. ex Steud. Lc. 115; fLishoa in Journ. Bo^' 

 Nat. IlisL Soc. V. (1891) 345. Acratherum fuftcatum, Nees ex Steud. l-^' 



The CoNCAN (Lfsboa). Nilghiri Hills, Heyne; Ootacamund, alt. 6000. ft" 

 Wighty Laicson, Kiag. Teqv, at Rangoon, Kurz. ,^ 



Stem 1-2 ft,, stiff, glabrous or pubescent below the panicle. Leaves ^"^J, 

 i~l in., lanceolate, tapering from the base to the tip, coriaceous, strongly nerve ^ 

 shtatli hir^ute; ligule very short, ciliate. Panicle 2-5 in., erect; rachisands"^ 

 simple branches ttitf, angular, scaberulous. Spikelets stouter and glnme ffi^*"^ 

 broader than in ituy form of hrastliensis. — Heyne'a specimens are more slender tn^^ 

 Lawsou's. I have seen no specimens from the Concan. The Kangoon plant m^ 

 very pale panicle. 



15, A. capillaris, Ifool\f.; perennial, very slender, leaves narro^ 

 glabrous or hairy, panicle oblong branches alternate slender flexa<^.J 

 naked below, spikelets ^ in. distant solitary glabrous shorter than tn« 

 pedicels, gl. I = ^ n ovate-lanceolate acuminate 3-5-nerved, II lanceoU : 

 acuminate o-nerved, III not exceedinsr I obtuse 5-nerved, IV lanceoia j 

 acute scabrid, awn about twice as long^as the spikelet. A mutica, ^^ftry 

 ^Sieiid, Sgn. Gram. 116; ? Lisboa in Journ. Bomb. Nat.Hiiit. Sor. v. (1^^^^ 



