CXLVII. GRAMIXE.TJ. 1031 



the upper with rather wide ones ; lower floral glume 2-sexual, cliar- 

 taceous, ovate-oblong, cyinbit'orm, shortly awned, 3-nerved, tlie palea 

 as long as the glume, 2-cuspid ite and with scaberulous keels, the 

 lodicules minute, cuneiform, truncate; upper floral glume like the 

 lower, bafc much smaller, bicuspidate, male ; sometimes an imperfect 

 flower of 2 empty glumes at the end of the rhachilla. Stamens 3 ; 

 anthers of 2-sexual flowers large, of male flowers small. Styles free ; 

 stigmas slender, with short simple hairs, laterally exserted. Grain 

 liuear-obloDg, free within the glumes. — Distrib. Species 2, Indian and 

 African. 



1. Gracilea Royleana, Hoolc f. in Fl. B. I. v. 7 (18U6) p. 28-i. 

 Annual; stems 3-s in. high, densely tufted, very slender. Leaves 

 1-2 in. long, scarcely reaching Jg in. bi'oad, flat or convolute, linear- 

 lanceolate, acutely pointed, glabrous or nearly so, the margins ciliate ; 

 sheaths with a few long scattered hairs ; ligale a hairy ridge. Spikes 

 flliform, |-2 in. long, flexuous, often recurved ; rhachis 3-gonous, smooth. 

 Clusters of spikelets ^-^ in. long (including the awns), green or purple ; 

 awns of iuvol.-gluraes longer than the glumes ; awn of floral glumes 

 short. Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 440 ; Prain, Beng. 

 PI. p. 1226. Mdanocenchris Royleana, Nees, in Proc. Linn. Soc. v. 1 

 (L841) p. 95 {nomen nudum); Lisboa, in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 7 (1893) 

 p. 370. M. Jacquemontii, Jaub. & Spach, Illustr. PI. Or. v. 4 (1850- 

 1853) p. 36, t. 325. M. Kothiaua, Dalz. & Gibs. Bo. Fl. p. 297 {>wi 

 of Nees). 



KoNKAN : Laio I, Woodrow. Dkccan : near Poona, Jacquemont, 383 ! S. M, 

 Country; Belgaum, Stocks\, Eitchie, 831! — Distrib. ludia (Behar, Rajputaua, 

 W. Peninsula) ; Socotra, Nubia. 



Vae. plumosa, Hook. f. Fl. B. I. (I. c.) p. 284. Clusters of spikelets 

 larger, ^ in. long, including the awns. Melanocencliris plumosa, Jaub. & 

 Spach, Illustr. PI. Or. v. 4 (1850-1853) p. 37. 



SiND, Stocks, 646 1 ; Jemadar ka Landa near Karachi, Stocks, 646 ! — ^Distrib. India 

 (the Panjab) ; Arabia, Abyssinia. 



55. MICROCHLOA, E. Br. 



Slender usually perennial grasses. Leaves narrow, often subsefa- 

 ceous ; ligule a minutely ciliate rim. Spikelets 1-flowered, small, sessile, 

 unilateral, crowded on the flattened rhachis of a solitary terminal slender 

 curved spike, alternately 2-seriate from near the margins of the rhachis 

 or in a single row; rhachilla disarticulating above, the invol. -glumes 

 more or less produced. Floret hermaphrodite. Glumes 3 ; invol. - 

 glumes subpersisteut, strongly 1-nerved, flattened on the back or keeled, 

 subequal ; floral glume small, oblong, hyaline, awnless ; palea nearly 

 equalling the glume, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, cuneate, glabrous. Sta- 

 mens 3 ; anthers linear. Styles distinct ; stigmas plumose, laterally 

 exserted. Grain oblong, glabrous, free within the glumes. — Uistetb. 

 Species 7, one widely distributed throughout the Tropics, 3 in Africa, 

 3 in Australia. 



1. Microchloa setacea, R. Br. Prodr. (1810) p. 208. Perennial ; 

 stems tufted, 2-6 (rarely reaching 10) in. high, very slender, branched 

 or almost simple, compressed beloM', glabrous, s-mooth. Leaves h-^h in.. 



