GRAMINE^. 461 



Stem 4 to 8 inches, very slender. Leaves % inch, 

 on sheaths of ^ inch. Spike ^ to M inch. Spikelets 

 1/16 inch: ghimes i and ii 1/40 inch, concave, obtuse, 

 persistent ; gl- iii about twice as long, and palea equal 

 to it, glabrous ; gl. iv very small, intermediate in size 

 between i and iii, hyaline very hairy, its palea similar 

 to it. 



Pulneys : in upper swamps. Bourne 13 13.* 



Gen. Dist. Tropical Asia, Australia, Madagascar. 



AVENA. F.B.I. 173 Lxxxii. 



Oat-grass- 



Annual or perennial grasses with flat leaves and two 

 or more flowered. Spikelets of the POACEiE (p. 446), i.e., 

 not jointed to their pedicels but jointed above the two 

 basal, sterile, glumes, and sometimes between the flower- 

 ing glumes. Glumes i and ii thin, persistent, nerved. 

 Flowering glumes, three to seven-nerved, two-toothed or 

 cleft at the top, with a long bent awn fixed at the back 

 below the cleft. 



Species chiefly in north temperate regions. 



Avcna aspcra Munro ; F.B.I, vii 277, LXXXII 5. 

 Rough Oat-grass. Stem 2 to 5 feet, slender, smooth, 

 purplish, ending in a narrow panicle of erect spikelets. 

 Leaves 6 to 12 inches ; sheath smooth ; ligule short. 

 Spikelets with three or more flowers : glume i ^ inch, 

 acute ; gl. ii slightly longer and with longer point ; gl. 

 iii and following five to seven-nerved, scabrid, cleft 

 about a third of the way down, the lobes acute but not 

 awned, with a long bent and twisted awn arising below 

 the cleft. Rachilla hairy between the glumes. 



Pulneys : near Kodaikanal. Bourne 1036, iq66, 1967, etc. 



Gen. Dist. Khasi, Nilgiri and Pulney hills, Ceylon. 



