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174 CLXxiii. ORAMiNE^. (J. D. Hooker.) [Andropogon. 



Drier parts of India ; from the Panjab to Burma, and southward to CETloir.— 

 DlSTRiB. Westwards to Sicily ; trop. Asia, Africa, and Australia. 



Very variable in habit and stature, rarely 12 in. hi^h, tufted, annual or perennial; 

 Btcm sometimes creeping and rooting, usually ascending from a leafy base, slender, 

 even filiform ; nodes sometimes densely bearded. Leaves 2-12 by Va^e *"•• ^^"J*^ ^^ 

 acuminate, glabrous except at the ciliate base, rarely hairy, surfaces scabcrulous 

 dull green ; sheath hardly compressed, glabrous or villous ; ligule short, membranoas, 

 truncate. Spikes pale or purplish; joints and pedicels very slender = i the sessile 

 gpikelet; gl. I of sessile spikelet subacute, coriaceous; II 1-3-nerved ; III hnear- 

 oblong, obtuse, glabrous; IV, awn ^ in., capillary, base slightly dilated; pal^ 

 minute or 0. Fedicelled spikelets like the sessile, male or neuter ; gl. I 7-13-nerved, 

 glabrous, pitted or not, keels ciliolate throughout their length; II lanceolate, 5- 

 nerved, ciliate; III linear-oblong, glabrous; IV short or 0.— Lisboa describes the 

 spikelets as aromatic when crushed. Hackel has the following Indian varieties, all 

 of which, except longijolms^ are united by various intermediates. 



a. gtnuinus ; gl. 1 thin not shining more or less villous below the middle, spikes 

 3-9. — Common. „ 



i3. Wightii ; sheaths villous, nodes long bearded, spikes about 15.—'* Panvanasum, 

 Wight Ca«. n. 1696. , 



«. longifi)lms ', tall, erect, stout from a woody stock, 2-4 ft. high, nodes densely 

 bearded, leaves 12-18 by i in, hairy, sheaths hirsute, lower spikes branched, spikel'W 

 quite glabrous, gl. I of lower spikelet coriaceous. A. Arnottianus, Nees in n\g 

 Cat n. 2338.— Andropogon, Wall. Cat. n. 8803.— Ceylon ? Wight.^A very different 

 looking plant from the other forms of A. periusus. 



n. irisculptus; sheaths glabrous, gl. I of sessile spikelets 1-2-pitted truncate, 

 keels longer ciliate. A. insculptns. A. Rich, Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 458. A. bifoveolatos 

 & subuuifoveolatus, Steud. Syn. Gram. 380, — Not uncommon. 



19. Ak roulkesil, Hoohf.; stem erect or ascending very slend?^ 

 nodes glabrous, leaves narrowly linear, sheaths terete, spikes 3-6 l-W ^^' 

 long digitately fascicled long-stipitate slender purplish, joints and pedicels 

 shortly ciliate, sessile spikelets |— ^ in. oblong-lanceolate dorsally d^ 

 pressed in the middle line imperforate 7-nerved glabrous keels pectinateiy 

 ciliate. 



NiLOHiKi HiT.LS, Wight; Kaity, Foullces; Pykora, King. 



Perennial. Stem 12-18 in. Leaves 6-10 by ^-\ in., finely acuminate, glabrous 

 or hispid on both surfaces w*ith spreading hairs, midrib very strong ; sheath glabrous, 

 mouth and ligule villous with long hairs. Spikes 1-lJ in., special peduncles i-1 ^^j* 

 very slender, axils bearded with long soft hairs ; joints and pedicels slender, flat v^it 

 thickened margins and diaphanous centre. Sessile spikelefs I-} in,, tip 2'toota^{* 

 callus bearded ; gl. I dorsally flattened or convex, nerves obscure or distinct; 

 acuminate, 3-nerved, keel scaberulous above, margins ciliate; III shorter, lanceola e, 

 nerveless; IV awn i-| in., capillary, palea 0. Fedicelled spikelet longer an 

 narrower than the sessile; gl. I strongly 9-nerved. — Resembles A. Ischrem^^* 

 differing in the much shorter hairs of the joints and pedicels and glabrous spikelets* 



20. A. concanensls, Hooi. /. ; slender, erect, leafy, leaves very 

 narrow sheaths terete, nodes glabrous, spikes 5-8 2-2^- in. long ^*^*^^^^ 

 fascicled long-stipitate slender flexuous pale, joints and pedicels ^^^^^. 

 compressed not deeply sulcate sparsely shortly ciliate, spikelets i ' 

 ovate- or oblong-lanceolate narrowly truncate glabrous 7-nerved keels ve j 

 shortly ciliate. 



Bombay, Woodrow {Herh. Bomh. n. 28). i- 



Perennial. Slems many from a nodose stock, 28-24 in., firm, «^o°^^' rf f^ 

 leafy. Leave* 8-10 by J^-J in., finely acuminate, smooth on both surfaces; Biiea 



