RATZEBURGIA PULCHERRIMA.* Tab. 273. 
Ratzeburgia pulcherrima, Kunth, Revision des Graminées, p. 487. t. 158. 
Habitat prope ripam fluminis Irawaddi in collibus aridis subulosis ad Yenangheun et inter ruinas templorum ad 
Paghamew ; vigens florensgue mense Septembris. 
While my account of this grass was in progress through the press, I was informed by Dr. Brown that it had been 
described and figured already in a Number of my valued friend Professor Kunth's splendid work on Grasses, which 
had just reached this country. The necessity of my adding any description is therefore superseded, and I have 
adopted the prior name given by M. Kunth for that of Aikimia elegans, engraved on the Plate which accompanied 
the preceding Number of this volume. The grass is, without a single exception, the most lovely and elegant of any I 
have ever seen; it is of a pale glaucous colour, and the crest of the outer glume has a pinkish tint. It delights in 
arid and exposed situations not far from the banks of the Irawaddi, among the hills near the petroleum wells at 
Yenangheun, and among the ruins of pagodas at Paghamew. “The Plate has been engraved from a drawing made 
expressly for this work by my excellent friend Professor Lindley. 
For the following generic character and observations relating to this grass I am gratefully indebted to my most 
honoured and esteemed friend Dr. Brown. 
Ratzeburgia, Kunth Revis. Gramin. p. 487.—Spica articulata, rachi flexuosà. Locustæ in singulo articulo 3. Duæ sessiles, per glumas 
superiores parallelo-contiguæ, bifloræ. Glumæ valvula inferior cartilaginea, dorso depresso nervoso scrobiculato, apice membranaceo 
bilobo ; superior chartacea planiuscula levis. Flosculi hyalini mutici; superior hermaphroditus univalvis enervis. Squamulæ hypogynæ 3, 
quarum duæ exteriores subcollaterales dilatato-cuneatæ retusæ bidentatze ; tertia interior triloba (pro palea superiore habita a Dom. Kunth). 
Stamina 3. Ovarium imberbe. Styli ad basin distincti, interjecto umbone. Stigmata coarctato-plumosa. Flosculus inferior neuter uni- 
valvis obsoleté binervis marginibus inflexis. Locusta tertia pedicello libero insidens, neutra, univalvis.— Brown MSS. 
Gramen perpulchrum, humile, stoloniferum, glabriusculum. Culmi adscendentes, monostachyi. Folia brevia, rigidiuscula, plana, 
nunc conduplicata, obtusa, marginata, vagina compressa, ligulà imberbi, indivisà.— Brown. 
Obs.— Ratzeburgia may be readily distinguished from all other genera of Paniceæ, as I have defined that extensive tribe, in having at 
each joint of its rachis three locustæ, of which two are sessile, fertile, and without aristæ, while the third, which is merely rudimentary, 
consisting of a single valve, is supported on a pedicel entirely distinct from the rachis. 
In most of these characters, indeed, it agrees with Mnesithea of Kunth (Rottböllia perforata of Roxburgh), which differs, however, in 
having the pedicel of its third, still more imperfect locusta, connate at both extremities with the rachis, and thus contributing to form the 
perforated joint, so remarkable in this genus. In Mnesithea, M. Kunth considers the upper valve of the glume as belonging to a third 
univalvular neuter flosculus,—an opinion which seems to be founded solely on its membranaceous texture, and which, if adopted, would 
exclude this genus from Paniceæ, as I have defined them,—a definition which M. Kunth certainly does not adopt, as he has included in 
his tribe of Rottbölliaceæ several genera belonging to Poaceæ, namely, Lepturus, Oropetium, Psilurus, and Nardus. 
According to the view here taken of the structure of the two genera, Mnesithea would have nearly the same relation to Ratzeburgia in 
its more important characters that Rottböllia has to Ischemum Rottböllioides, Prodr. Flor. Nov. Holl., which I have in that work suggested 
might form a distinct genus. This genus has very recently been adopted by M. Brongniart and named Cælorachis, with a character, 
however, which, as far as regards the structure of the pedicelled locusta, is so limited as to exclude both Ischæmum Rottböllioides, whose 
pedicelled locusta contains an hermaphrodite and a neuter flower, and Rottböllia Cælorachis of Forster, in which that locusta contains 
two male flowers. This last degree of development of the pedicelled locusta extends to other species, and such species differ from 
Manisuris merely in the form of the outer valve of the gluma of the sessile locusta. 
Two other views, different from that here adopted, of the structure of Ratzeburgia, have been taken; the first by M. Kunth, who 
considers, and perhaps more correctly, the third squamula as the upper valve of the hermaphrodite flower. According to the second 
view, which is obviously suggested by the figure, the locusta would be regarded as containing one flower only.— Brown. 
Plate CCLXXIII. Fig. 1. A spike. 2. The same, showing the rachis with two florets remaining. ^ 3. Raches without the florets. 
4. A floret, opened. 5. Back of the outer glume. 6. Back of the inner glume. 7. Paleæ, with pistil; the stamens having 
been removed. 8. Pistil, with hypogynous scales. 9. Hypogynous scales, seen from above. 
JASMINUM DISPERMUM. Tab. 274. 
Jasminum dispermum, Wall. in Roxb. Flor. Ind. vol. 1. p. 99. 
Habitat in montibus Napaliæ, florens a mense Aprili usque ad Octobrem ; fructiferum fine anni. Etiam observavi 
in valle Deyrah dicta. In montibus Sirmorensibus (W. S. Webb), Kamounensibus (R. Blinkworth). 
Having already given a detailed description of this fine Jessamine in Roxburgh’s Flora Indica, it is unnecessary to in- 
troduce it here. The shrub is among the less common species in Nipal, where it is found on the higher mountains. 
Plate CCLXXIV. Fig. 1. 2. Flower. 3. 4. Calyx and corolla, opened. 
* The reasons for changing the name Aikinia elegans, engraved on the Plate, is stated in the text above. 
