454 GRAMINE^. 



stem. Sessile spikelet with one fertile flower, the top 

 one, and a staminate flower : stalked spikelet with two 

 staminate flowers, neither as a rule having an ovary. 



Species about 34 chiefly tropical monsoon regions, rare in 

 Africa and America. 



Ischd^mum ciiisire Retz. ; RB.L vii 133, XXXVII 16; 

 the Purple Grass of the hills- 



Leaves coarse, lower sheaths much compressed; 

 blade 2 by J^ inch, elliptic acute, softly hairy all 

 over: ligule i/io inch high, triangular: nodes ciliate. 

 Flowering stem slender, purplish upwards. Spikes 

 twoi diverging ; one stalked % inch beyond the other, 

 purple except for the white hairs on the outer glumes. 

 Sessile spikelet : glume i obovate, % inch, notched 

 with two strong ribs, winged upwards and clothed with 

 white hairs from the base ; gl. ii boat-shaped, very stiff, 

 keeled and crested at the top ; gl. iii thin, reddish, 

 not ribbed, with stamens and a tiny pistillode, palea 

 thin obscurely two-ribbed ; gl. iv enclosing a perfect 

 flower, bifid, ciliate, with a long J^-inch awn attached 

 about half way. Stalked spikelet : gl. i strongly one- 

 nerved, not bifid or winged, hairy on the back ; gl. 

 ii three-nerved at the top, and with scarious margins; 

 gl. iii two-nerved enclosing stamens only ; gl. iv deeply 

 cleft, ciliate, awned, enclosing a perfect flower. 



The two spikelets are similar except as regards gl. i. 

 In the sessile spikelet it has a round back and two 

 winged ribs ; in the stalked spikelet it has a single 

 crested keel. 



On the open downs of both plateaus. Fyson 2516. 

 Bourne 1085,* 1401, 1539, 5238, etc. 



Gen. Dist. From Nepal and Bengal southwards to Ceylon and on to 

 Malaya, China and Australia. 



