78 A FLORA OF MANILA 
erect, 15 to 30 cm long, the branches slender, spreading, whorled, fragile, 
the joints clothed with long, soft, white hairs. Spikelets about 3.5 mm 
long, very much shorter than the copious long white hairs at the base. 
In open waste places, fallow lands, etc., fl. Sept._Nov., and Apr.—June; 
very common and widely distributed in the Philippines. Southern Europe 
through the tropics of the Old World to Australia. 
* 2. S. OFFICINARUM L. Tuba (Tag.); Cana dulce (Sp.); Sugar Cane. 
A coarse, erect grass 1.5 to 3.4 m high, the stems green, yellow, or 
purplish, 2 to 5 cm thick, the internodes long or short. Leaves very large, 
broad. Panicles very large, 40 to 80 cm long, white, the branches up to 
35 em in length, the stems glabrous below the panicle. Spikelets very nu- 
merous, about 3 mm long, the surrounding white, villous hairs about twice 
as long as the spikelet. (FI. Filip. pl. 18.) 
Cultivated to a small extent in the vicinity of Manila, occasionally 
flowering; extensively cultivated in the Philippines. Probably a native of 
tropical Asia, now cultivated in all tropical countries; of prehistoric in- 
troduction in the Philippines. 
10. ROTTBOELLIA Linnaeus filius 
Coarse, erect, annual or prennial grasses, the leaves mostly broad. 
Spikes few or many, cylindric, solitary or panicled, the rachis fragile, the 
joints usually excavated at the tip. Spikelets in pairs, 1 sessile and 1 
pedicelled, the former perfect, the latter imperfect, its pedicel often adnate 
’ to the joint, the spikelets more or less immersed in the hollowed outside of 
the rachis-joints. Sessile spikelets with 4 glumes, the first coriaceous, 
covering the excavation in the rachis-joint, the second thinner, keeled, the 
third and fourth hyaline, not awned. (In honor of C. F. Rottboell, a Danish 
botanist.) 
Species about 30, in the tropics of both hemispheres, 3 in the Philippines, 
a single one in our area. ? 
1. R. exaltata L. f. Aguingay (Tag.). 
A coarse, erect, usually branched, annual grass 1 to 2.5 m high, the 
stems stout, spongy inside, the sheaths armed with few or many, stiff, 
irritating hairs. Leaves flat, 20 to 60 cm long, 1 to 3 cm wide, acuminate. 
Spikes cylindric, 8 to 15 em long, about 3 mm in diameter, mostly solitary, 
narrowed upward, readily breaking up, the joints 6 to 7 mm long. Spike- 
lets immersed in the side of the rachis, the first glume of the second one 
about 4 mm long, very coriaceous. 
In open, well-drained grass lands, thickets, etc., fl. all the year; through- 
out the Philippines. Tropical Africa and Asia through Malaya to Australia. 
11. MANISURIS Swartz 
A slender, much-branched, annual grass, more or less hairy, the leaves 
cordate at the base. Spikes cylindric, slender, solitary, axillary and 
terminal, numerous, the peduncles often confluent and forming a 
leafy panicle, the rachis fragile, joints very short, deeply excavated. 
Spikelets 1- or 2-flowered, in pairs, one sessile, globose, pitted externally, 
the other pedicelled, ovate, flat, male or neuter, its pedicel adnate to the 
rachis-joint. Sessile spikelet with 4 glumes, the first globose, pitted, 
awnless. (Said to be from the Greek “lizard” and “tail,” in allusion to the 
form of the spike.) 
A monotypic genus. 
