1014 CXLTII. GRAMINE^. 



floral glume much shorter and narrower than the lower one, linear- 

 oblong, acuminate, chartaceous, smooth, dorsally convex, with incurved 

 margins, 2-sexual ; palea as long as the glume, acuminate, hyaline, the 

 margins inflexed below the middle. Lodicules very minute or 0. 

 Stamens 3; anthers linear. Styles very long; stigmas slender, peni- 

 cillate, exserted at the top of the glume. Grain oblong, compressed, 

 free within the glume and palea. — Distkib. India, Ceylon; species 1. 



1. Trachys mucronata, Pers. Si/n. v. 1 (1805) p. 85. Sterna 

 6-18 in. long, ascending or prostrate, leafy, glabrous ; nodes villous. 

 Leaves 1-4 by 5-5 in., ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, flaccid, softly villous 

 on both surfaces, margins often crisped, base rounded ; sheaths glabrous 

 or hairy ; ligule a thin membrane. Peduncles reaching 8 in. long, 

 slender, shining. Spikes 1-2 by j^-^ in,, stipitate, the stipes y\^|in. 

 long, glabrous and more or less angular ; rhachis rigidly herbaceous, 

 with a broad flat midrib and broad closely nerved wings. Clusters of 

 spikelets reaching ^ in. in diara., often partially sunk in a concavity of 

 the rhachis ; perfect spikelets reacliing I in. long, the imperfect much 

 shorter. Glumes 4 ; lower invol.-glume -^-^ in. long, lanceolate, 

 acute ; upper invol.-glume ^ by ^^ in., linear-lanceolate, very acute, 

 3-nerved, hyaline ; lower floral glume 1 by | in., broadly and obliquely 

 ovate or obovate, cuspidately acuminate, with many green nerves, paleate, 

 the palea -^ in. long, oblong, obtuse, hyaline ; upper floral glume i by 

 jig in., ovate, acute. Fl B. I. v. 7, p. 90 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 5, p. 186 ; 

 Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 435, Panicum sqiiarrosum, 

 Eeta. Obs. fasc. 4 (1786) p. 15 ; Roxb. Cor. PI. v. 3, t. 206.— Plowers : 

 Aug. Vern. Devahhata. 



S, M. OouNTEY : Dliarwar, Woodroiv ; Badaiui, Cooke !, Woodrow ! — Distrib. India 

 (W. Peninsula) ; Ceylon. 



46. TRAGUS, llaller. 



Annual or perennial grasses ; stems erect, ascending or decumbent. 

 Leaves linear, rather rigid, with cartilaginous spinulously ciliate margins ; 

 ligule a delicate ciliate rim. Spikelets in deciduous clusters of 2-4, on 

 the filiform continuous axes of cylindric spike-like racemes or panicles. 

 Lower invol.-glume minute, hyaline or suppressed ; up])er invol.- 

 glume 5-ribbed or 5-nerved, membranous between the hispid or 

 spinous-hooked ribs or nerves, exceeding the floral glume ; floral 

 glume solitary, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, membranous, 3-nerved, 

 2-sexual ; palea as long as the glume, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, 

 broad, cuneate, fleshy. Stamens 3. Styles distinct, very slender ; 

 stigmas narrow, plumose, exserted from the top of the glume. Grain 

 oblon" to ellipsoid, free within the glume and palea. — Distrib. 

 Species 2 ; one in South Africa, the other throughout the warmer parts 

 of both hemispheres. 



1. Tragus racemosus, Scop. Tntrod. (1777) p. 73. Stems tufted, 

 leafy below, simple or branched, the branches often fasciculate and 

 densely leafy, geniculate, ascending from a decumbent base or wholly 

 decumbent, from a few inches to 1 ft. long; nodes glabrous. Leaves 

 variable in length, 5-H by y\r~lT "''•' li'iear-lanceolato, acuminate, flat 

 or undulate, rigid, very glaucous, suhpungenl, smooth, with pectiiiately 



