700 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXV. 



1. Spike 1 (rarely more) green or disco- 

 loured, rhizome slender, creeping,bract8 

 very long, flaccid, a herb of shady 

 places . . . . . , . . . . 4. A'. v\onocaj)liala. 



1- K- triceps, HoWj. 2-8 inches high. Bracts spreading or 

 deflexed, np to 3 inches, usually less, stiff. Heads pure white, 

 usually one central and two or three smaller lateral, ovoid-cyindric, 

 the central one usually j x f inch. Glumes with green keels and 

 striate sides, not winged in the upper half. 



A herb of open grass land, especially in the drier tracts. Matures in 

 the mid-monsoon period. Throughout the Presidency. (African and 

 Indo-Malayan). 



2. K- brevifolia, llotth. 4-18 inches high with a slender 

 creeping rhizome. Bracts short, usually not more than 4 inchet?. 

 Heads greenish, usually of only one spike, small, ovoid-globose ; 

 glumes with a narrow (usually slightly crested) wing in the lower 

 half. 



Distribution uncertain, but probably often confused \\ith K. monocephala. 

 (.411 warm regions except the Mediterranean.) 



3. K- melanosperma, ^^ees. Rhizome very short, stout, horizon- 

 tal, with ascending stems up to 20 inches. Head solitary, bee-hive- 

 shaped, pale green. Bracts short broad, spreading, leaf-like, firm, 

 sub-obtuse. Nuts at first white, afterwards black. 



In the Presidency apparently confined to soft mud in marshes on the crest 

 of the southern ghats. (Common on the Nilgiri Hills, Ceylon, Singapore, 

 African and Indo-Malayan.) 



4. K* monocephala, -^^cf^/j. 5-18 inches high with a very slender 

 creeping rhizome bracts very long up to 8 inches, leaf-like, usually 

 erect or spreading, not deflexed, flaccid. Heads green or dirty 

 white, usually of only one spike, globose, j inch. Glumes with a 

 more or less prominent wing especially in the upper half, which 

 may be either entire or lacerate, or sub-spinulose, sometimes 

 speckled with minute red glands. Sides of glumes often smooth 

 and speckled with brown, sometimes striate. 



A flaccid herb of shady places, under trees and forest edges, especially 

 in the wetter tracts. Throughout the Presidency except the extreme 

 North. (Most warm regions). 



( To he continued. ) 



