050 CXLVIJ. (iRAMlNE.Ti. 



19. POLLINIA, Triu. 



Annual or perennial grasses of various habit. Leaves usually narrow, 

 Spikelets all alike or nearly so, 3-nate (one sessile, the other pedicellate, 

 rarely both pedicellate) on the articulate and usually fragile rhachis of 

 2-nate, digitate or fascicled spike-like racemes ; callus short, bearded. 

 Glumes 4; lower invol.-glume membranous, dorsally flattened or 

 concave, more or less 2-keeled, with inflexed margins ; upper invol.- 

 glume membranous, keeled, 1-3-nerved, Avith inflexed margins ; lower 

 floral glume hyaline, paleate or not, sometimes suppressed ; upper floral 

 glume short, hyaline, 2-lobed or entire, generally awned ; palea small 

 or 0. Lodicules 2, small, cuneate. Stamens 3 (rarely 2). Styles 

 short ; stigmas linear, laterally exserted. Grain oblong. — Dfstrib. 

 Species about 32, in tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World. 



Eacemes many, 6-12 ; perennial 1. V. argentea. 



Kaceines few, 2-4 ; annual 2. P . fimbriata. 



1. Pollinia argentea, Trin. in Bull. Sc. Acad. Petersb. v. 1 (1836) 

 p. 71. Perennial ; stems tufted, 1^-4 ft. high, stout or slender, erect, 

 simple or branched, smooth, shining, leafy at the base and upwards ; 

 nodes glabrous. Leaves 6-18 by ^\-^ in., erect, narrowly linear, rigid, 

 often filiform, glabrous, striate, tips capillary ; sheaths long, slender, 

 coriaceous, not aurided at the mouth, the sides bearded with long hairs ; 

 ligule a short membrane fringed with long hairs. Eacemes 6-12, 

 narrow, 1-6 in. long, lax-flowered ; rhachis- firm, flexuous, compressed ; 

 pedicels of spikelets flattened, slightly dilated at the apex, densely silky- 

 villous on the edges. Spikelets ^ in. long (excluding the long awn). 

 Glumes 4 ; lower invol.-glume hnear-obloug, crustaeeous below, 

 membranous above with a hyaline tip, silky villous on the back, the 

 margins narrowly incurved, villous with long silky hairs ; upper invol.- 

 glume oblong, 1-nerved, tip erose, margins incurved, ciliate ; lower floral 

 glume g in. long, narrowly oblong, hyaline, flat, nerveless; upper floral 

 glume shorter than the upper invol.-glume, linear-oblong, cleft into 2 

 Hubulate lobes; palea 0; awn reaching f in. long, not or scarcely ciliate, 

 the lower half brown, twisted, the upper half wliite, straight. Fl. B. I. 

 V. 7, p. Ill; Trim. Fl. Cevl. v. 5, p. 204; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. V. 13 (1901) p. 436; "Prain, Beng. PL p. 1100.— Flowers : Oct.- 

 Dec. 



KoNKAN : Eatnagiri, Woodrow. Deccan: Mawal, Jfoo^/row, 1 ! ; 'La.\io\\,Woodrow, 

 Lishoa. — DiSTEiB. Throughout India ; Ceylon, Malaya, Australia. 



2. Pollinia fimbriata. Hack. Mo)wgr. Androp. in DC. Monog. Phan. 

 V. 6 (18S9) p. 164. Annual; stem 1-2 ft. long; interuodes much 

 longer than the sheaths ; nodes glabrous. Leaves 6-10 by ^- in., flaccid, 

 sparsely hairy above ; sheaths glabrous ; ligule a ciliolate ridge. Eacemes 

 2-4, villous with white hairs, 1-3 in. long, flexuous, pale, with long 

 peduncles; rhachis slender, silky-hairy; pedicels of spikelets with 2 

 opposite rows of dense silky hairs. Spikelets g in. long ; callus very 

 short, silky-villous with long white liairs. Glumes 4; lower invol.- 

 gluuie elliptic-lanceolate, v\ith villous keels above, 2-toothed; upper 

 in\ol. -glume as long as the lower, elliptic, obtuse, with incurved ciliate 

 margins ; lower floral glume I in. long, narrowly oblong, obtuse, hyaline, 

 ciliolate ; upper floral glume y\ i'l- l''i'o» hyaline, dee[)ly 2-lid into 2 



