914 CXLVIT. rmAMINEiE. 



acute. Fl. B. I. v. 7, p. 63 ; Grali. Cat. p. 240 ; Trim. El. Ceyl. v. 5, 

 p. 174 ; Woodi". in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901 ) p. 434; Prain, Beng. 

 PI. p. 1168 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, part 3, p. 331.— Elowers : 

 Nov. A valuable sand-binding plant. 



KoNKAN : Law ! ; Slirivardhan, Woodrnw ; sandy shores near Bandra, close to 

 Bombay, Graham. Kanaka : Thomson ! ; Kumpta, JVoodrow. Gujarat : near Domas, 

 CooA-el — DiSTKiB. Sandy shores of India ; Ceylon, Java, China. 



2. PENNISETUM, Pars. 



Annual or perennial grasses. Leaves narrow. Inflorescence of 

 spike-like racemes of involucellate clusters of shortly pedicellate spike- 

 lets articulate on a simple rhachis ; involucels consisting of unequal 

 scabrid or plumose simple or branched bristles. Spikelets 1-6 in each 

 involucel, persistent on their pedicels, 1-2-flovvered, obovoid or lanceo- 

 late. Glumes 3 or 4 ; lower invol. -glume small or ; upper invol.- 

 glume subeqnal to the louver floral glume, 5-7-nerved, awned or not, 

 rarely absent ; lower floral glume paleate or not, male or empty ; upper 

 floral glume sessile, coriaceous, 2-sexual or female. Lodicules 2. 

 Stamens 3 ; anthers linear. Styles long, free or connate below. Grain 

 oblong, free within the hardened glume and palea. — Disieib. Species 

 about 40, in most warm countries. 



Bristles of involucel free to the base, slender, not dilated at the 

 base. 



Inner bristles of involucel scaberuloue, not ciliate. 



Leaves 12-18 in. long 1. V. Alopecuros. 



Leaves 3-6 in. long 2. F. dichotomum. 



Inner bristles of involucel ciliate below the middle with 



long h'irs, but naked at the base; involucel stipitate ... 3. P. orientale. 

 Inner bristles of involucel densely villous or ciliate below 

 the middle, not naked at the base ; involucel sessile. 



Inner bristles of involucel densely villous 4. P. jKdicellaium. 



Inner bristles of involucel laxly ciliate with long 



silky hairs (not villous) 5. P. setosum. 



Inner bristles of involucel dilated below, their bases confluent 



in a coriaceous disk 6. P. cenchroides. 



1, Pennisetum Alopecuros, Necs, ex Steud. Syn. Oram. (1855) 

 p. 102. Perennial; stems 2-3 ft. high, stout, erect, densely tufted 

 below, subdistichously branched above ; branches strict, erect. Leaves 

 12-18 by -Y^-\ in., coriaceous, convolute, glabrous, with usually a tuft 

 of soft hairs at the base ; sheaths glabrous or nearly so ; ligule a small 

 hairy ring. Eacemes spike-like, 5-7 in. long ; rhachis flexuous, scabe- 

 rulous, angular ; involucel very shortly pedicellate ; bristles very unequal, 

 the longest 2-3 times as long as the spikelet, scaberulous. Spikelets 

 reaching nearly g in. long, lanceolate, acute, solitary. Glumes -I ; 

 lower invol. -glume ^V '"• '^"S' s"borbicular, hyaline; upper invol.- 

 glume \ in. long, lanceolate, acuminate, 3-nerved, hyaline ; lower floral 

 glume \ in. long, lanceolate, acuminate, 7-11-nerved with involute 

 margins; upper floral glume slightly longer than the lower one, lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, 5-nerved, with involute margins, 2-sexual ; palea 

 lanceolate, as long as tlie glume. El. B. I. v. 7, p. 84; AVoodr. iu 

 Jotirn. Bomb. Nat. v 13 (1901) p. 435; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 6, 

 part 1, p. 127. Penmselum avreiim, Dalz. & Gibs. Bo. El. (ISGl) 

 p. 294. — Elowers : Oct. Vern. Mohl. 



