TRIANDRIA DIGYNIA. Paspulum. 



This is cultivated by the natives over many parts of India. It 

 delights ill a lii^ht, dry, loose soil, but will groSv in a very barren 

 one. Time of cultivation the rainy season. 



Root fibrous. — Culms erect, ramous, jointed, smooth ; about two 

 feet high, involved in the sheaths of the leaves. — Leaves sheathing, 

 bifarious, longer than the culm, every part smooth. Sheaths longer 

 than the joints, often embracing the spikes like a spathe. — Spikes 

 axillary and terminal, from two to four, alternate, sessile, erect, se- 

 cund. — Rachis broad, membranaceous, with a waved keel on the in- 

 side. — F.'owers oval, alternate, in two rows ; in luxuriant plants 

 the ilo vers are crowded without order. — Calyx, exterior valve three- 

 nerved, interior valve tive-nerved. — Seeds brown, smooth, size of 

 that of hemp. 



Obs. The seed is an article of diet with the Hindoos, particularly 

 with those who inhabit the mountains and most barren parts of the 

 country, for it is in such countries only where it is cultivated, it be- 

 ing an unprofitable crop, and not sown where others more beuelicial 

 will thrive. I have eaten of the boiled grain, and thiak it as palata- 

 ble as rice. 



1. P. Kora. Linn. Sp. PL erl fVilld. i. 330,. 



Spikes terminal, alternate \ floioers alternate, in two-rows, smooth. 

 Calyces from three to live-nerved. Culms below procumbent, from 

 one to eight feet high. 



P. orbiculare. Forst- prodr. N. 35. 



Hind. Kodu. 



Teling. Neer (i. e, water) Aruga. 



A native of the borders of water courses. 



Root fibrous, annual. — Culms resting on the ground near the 

 base, aboVj^ ascending, brafichy, jointed, smooth.; from one to three 

 feet long. — Leaves as in P. scrohiculatufn, but shorter. Spikes 

 generally two, or three, though in very luxuriant plants I have 

 seen seven or eight, terminal, sessile, horizonlal, and erect, thereat 

 as iu the filst described species. 



