CXLVII. GUAMINE.E. 971 



base subcordate, amplexicaul ; sheaths lax, pubescent, the upper spatlii- 

 i'orm, leafless ; ligule very short, truncate, hyahne, glabrous. Floral 

 spathes Ig-^ in. long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, green, with mem- 

 branous margins, piibeseent or villous, enclosing tlie spikes. Racemes 

 2-nate, on a common peduncle, a subsessile and a pedicellate one ; the 

 pedicel slender, pubescent, fragile ; joints | as long as the spikelets and 

 ])edicels of upper spikelet clavate, compressed, pectinately ciliate. 

 kSpikelets 2-nate, a sessile and a pedicellate one at each joint, and a 

 terminal male. Sessile spikdcts § in. long, linear-lanceolate ; callus 

 .Jg- in. long, bearded with hairs equalling itself. Glumes 4 ; lower 

 invol. -glume membranous, linear, acute, bimucronulate, 2-nerved, the 

 margins hyaline, inllexed ; upper invol.-glume rather shorter than the 

 lower, linear-lanceolate, mucronulate, much compressed, 1-nerved, with 

 hyaline margins ; lower floral glume ^ in. long, narrow, linear, subacute, 

 hyaline, nerveless, glabrous; upper floral glume 4 as long as the upper 

 invol.-glume, lanceolate, acute, glabrous, with a very long capillary awn 

 reaching in. (or more) long, attached at the base ; palea 0. Anthers 

 Jjj in. long. Pedicellate spikelets 4- in. long, not awned. Fl. B. I. v. 7, 

 p. 147; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 437. — Flowers : 

 Oct. 



KoNKAN : Laivl, Stocks I Deccax : Woodrow, from seed sown in the Botanical 

 Garden of the College of Science, Poonii, collected at Kori Fort, 12 miles S. of Lauoli. 

 — DifeiTiiiB. India (W. Peninsula). 



29. THELEPOGON, Roth. 



A coarse perennial grass. Lea\es lanceolate, cordate, amplexicaul. 

 Racemes few or many, corymbosely fascicled, pedunculate ; rhachis 

 flexuous, fragile, the joints more or less deeply excavated. Spikelets 

 ovoid, acute, solitary at the joints, the upper spikelet reduced to a mere 

 almost glume-like rigid pedicel, the lower sessile, 2-flowered, the lower 

 flower male, the upper 2-sexual. Glumes 4 ; lower invol.-glume 

 coriaceous, transversely rugose, ridged or tuberculate ; upper invol.- 

 glume chartaceous, not keeled, sunk in the cavity of the joint, rigid, 

 sparingly tuberculate ; lower floral glume shorter, paleate, usually male, 

 triandrous, with a similar palea ; upper floral glume hyaline, 2-cleft, with 

 a long twisted awn in the sinus, 3-nerved ; palea narrow, equalling the 

 glume. Lodicules cuneate, truncate. Stamens 3 ; anthers long. Styles 

 free ; stigmas short. — Distbib. Species 1, African and East Indian. 



' 1. Thelepogon elegans, Roth, Nov. PL Sp. (1821) p. 62. An annual 

 robust grass ; roots stout, rigid ; stems 1-3| ft. lugh, tufted and branch- 

 ing from the base, terete, erect or geniculately ascending, glabrous. 

 Leaves 4-10 by |-f in., linear, acuminate, thin, cordate, amplexicaul, 

 usually hispid with bulbous-based hairs or sometimes only tuberculately 

 scabrid, the margins cartilaginously ciliate ; sheaths loose, hispid above 

 with bulbous-based hairs and with ciliate margins; ligule narrow, 

 membranous. Racemes 1-2 in. long, corymbose; peduncles slender, 

 stiff; joints of the rhachis as long as the spikelets, siibclavate, scaberu- 

 lous, the top orbicular, cupular. Spikelets | in. long, y(>llowish-white, 

 ovate, beaked; callus small, annular, minutely bearded. Glumes 4; 

 lower invol. -glinne thickly coriaceous, ovate, aciuninate, with a mem- 

 branous 2-deutate beak, the back convex with transverse much elevated 



