1016 CXLVII. GRAMINE.E, 



48. ZOYSIA, Willd. 



A small rigid glabrous grass, w itk a long wiry rootstock giving off 

 short erect leafy branches terminating in solitary pedunculate spike-like 

 recemes. Leaves distichous, subulate, concave, pungent. tSpikelets 

 ovoid, laterally compressed, 1-flowered, articulate on short or rather 

 long stout angular pedicels appressed to a rigid rliachis. Glumes 2 ; 

 invol.-glume empty, rigidly coriaceous, tlie margins closely appressed as 

 if connate, with a membranous tip, nerveless ; floral glume much smaller 

 than and completely enclosed in the invol.-glume, ovate-lanceolate, 

 hyaline, 1-nerved; palea hnear-oblong, hyaline. Lodicules 0. Stamens 3; 

 anthers long. Styles very long, connate below ; stigmas plumose, 

 ex«erted' at the top of the spikelet. Grain oblong, free within the 

 glume and palea. — Distbib. Tropical Asia, Australia, and Mauritius ; 

 species 1. 



1. Zoysia pungeus, Willd. in Ges. Naturf. Fr. Neue ScJirift. v. 3 

 (180J») p. 441. Eootstock rigid, wiry, up to 2-3 ft. long, the branches 

 interlaced and rooting, sending up short leafy stems 6-10 in. high. 

 Leaves 1-3 in. long, coriaceous, dorsally rounded, subulate, con- 

 cave, pungent ; sheaths short ; ligiile a narrow ciliolate membrane. 

 Eacemes 1-lg in. long, strict, erect. Spikelets i in. long, erect; 

 pedicels usually short, angular. Invol.-glume biconvex, much com- 

 pressed at the membranous tip, smooth and shining, thickly coriaceous ; 

 floral glume shorter and much narrower, hyaline ; palea linear-oblong, 

 nerveless. Tl. B. I. v. 7, p. 99 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 5, p. 188 ; Woodr. in 

 Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 435; Prain, Beng. PI. p. 1186. 



Gdjarat : Damaun, Lishoa. I Lave seen no specimens from the Bombay Presidency ; 

 there are none in Herb. Kew, — Distrib. of the genus. 



49. PEROTIS, Ait. 



Small annual or 8ub])erennial grasses ; stems tufted, leafy. Leaves 

 usually broad, rigid and ciliate ; ligiiles hyaline or 0. Spikelets very 

 small, linear-lanceolate, sessile or subsessile on the continuous rhachis 

 of a spike or a lax spike-like raceme, articulate on and falling entire 

 from the rhachis or the very short pedicels. Glumes 3 ; invol. -glumes 

 equal, empty, linear-lanceolate, rigidly membranous, with a strong mid- 

 rib produced into a long capillary awn ; floral glume solitary, lanceolate, 

 acute, hyaline, 1-nerved, 2-sexual ; palea narrow, hyaline, nerveless. 

 Lodicules 2, broad, cuneate. Slamens 3. Styles short ; stigmas 

 plumose, laterally exserted. Grain cylindric, slender, exserted from the 

 unchanged floret and enclosed with it in the invol. -glumes.^ — Distrib. 

 Species 2 or 3, in the Tropics of the Old World and in subtropical 

 Australia. 



1. Perotis latifolia. Ait. Ilort. Kew. v. 1 (1789) p. 85. Stems 

 tufted, geniculate, suberect, ascending, 3-15 in. long, glabrous. Leaves 

 ^-1| by i— ^ in., ovate or lanceolate, from a broad amplexicaul base, 

 acute or acuminate, flat or somewhat undulate, glaucous, with rigidly 

 ciliate margins; ligule 0. Kacemes slender, 2-8 in. long, dense; 

 rliachis subterefe, glabrous. Spikelets ^^ in. long, narrowly linear, 

 siibterete, scaberulous. Invol. -glumes equal and similar, often purple, 

 linear-lanceolate, each with a long scuberulotis awn reaching sometimes 



