BOMBAY GRASSES. 341 



Chioxaciine, R. lh\ 



. C. barbata, R. Br. in Benn. PI. Jaw Rar. 18; Gtfu $a¥bd>tlti Dalz. 



n,l (lil... Bomb, Ft. 289. 

 Win. Variral. Karany, Kawdia; Bengal Gunjiir (Roxb.). Common 

 on wet grotiiids. Said to be used as fodder at Balnghat. 



EuciiL.EXA, Sc/irad. 



E. luxuriant, Ascheron. 



Seen in garden*. A splendid fodder grass, tke cultivation of which 

 proves c tslly, as it requires a rich soil and abundance of water. 

 Highly valued iu certain parts of the United States. 



Zea, Linn. 



This genus is represents by a single species. In a paper on the 

 " Genera of Grasses," published in the Journal of the Linnean 

 Society, Mr. Bentham says: — 



"This most important, widely diffused and most striking grass is 

 only known in a cultivated state, or perhaps as an escape from culti- 

 vation. With most of the general characters of the tribe to which 

 it gives its name, it is exceptional not only iu that tribe, but in 

 the whole order by the manner in which its numerous female spike- 

 lets art' densely packed in several vertical rows round a central 

 .pongy or corky axis. How far this arrangement may have gra- 

 dually arisen after so many centuries of cultivation can only be a 

 matter of conjecture. " 



Zea has never been known in an uncultivated state, and has long 

 been believed to be a cultivated form of the last species, 'on account 

 of the close resemblance of their flowers both in arrangement 

 and structure. Indeed, Mr. Bentham has stated that this affinity of 

 Zea to Euchkena appears to be recognised in this country, for speci- 

 mens have been received from Schaffner, purporting to be known as 

 " wild maize." 



Z. Mays, Linn.; Dalz. and Gibs. Bo. Fl., Suppl. 100. 



Vera. Boota, Mocka, Indian Corn. 



Grown extensively in the early part of the rainy season, the cobs 

 supplying a choice grain, which is seldom reduced to flour, being 

 generally baked or roasted over a slow fire and consumed by the poor 

 equally with the rich. It appears to have been introduced ml" this 



