CXLA'II. GKAMlNE.l^. 10 U 



6:\ HYGRORHIZA, Nees. 



A floating; glabrous grass ; stems stoutish, diffusely braiiclied, rooting 

 in dense masses at the nodes; branches short, erect, leafy. Leaves 

 oblong, obtuse. Spikelets few, erect, l-fiowered, articulated ou the 

 pedicels, but tardily deciduous, long-awnecl, lanceolate, on the tew 

 widely-spreading branches of a shortly pedunculate panicle. Invol.- 

 glumes ; floral glume solitary, thinly chartaceous, narrowed to an 

 erect scaberulous awn, strongly 5-ncrved, the nerves scabrid and 

 ciliate, the lateral nerves marginal ; palea much narrowed, 3-nerved, 

 acuminate, with ciliate keel. Lodicules minute, suborbicular. Stamens 

 6 ; antliers long, very slender. Styles 2, free ; stigmas plumose, 

 laterally exserted. Grain oblong, narrowed at the base, obtuse, 

 free within the glume and palea. — Disteib. India, Ceylon, Tonkin ; 

 species 1. 



1. Hygrorhiza aristata, Nees, in Ediab. N. Phil. Journ. v. ]o 

 (1833) p. 380. A glabrous tloating grass ; stem 1 ft. (and more) long, 

 spongy, with feathery whorled roots at the nodes ; internodes long or 

 short. Leaves 1-3 by |-| in., linear or ovate-oblong, obtuse, more or 

 less scaberulous above, smooth and glaucous beneath, subcoriaceous, 

 with smooth or slightly scaberulous margins, base rounded or subcor- 

 date ; midrib sliort ; sheaths smooth, inflated, somewliat auricled at the 

 mouth, couipressed, with ciliate margins; ligule a narrow membrane. 

 Panicle about 2 in. long and broad, triangular; rhachis and branches 

 slender, stiff, smooth, the lower branches sometimes deflexed. Spikwlets 

 very narrow, j in. long (including the awn), sessile or pedicellate. 

 Floral glume about § in. long (excluding the awn), lanceolate, with 

 5 srrong nerves, the lateral nerves forming thickened margins, hairy ou 

 the nerves outside, tapering into a long scaberulous awn as long as the 

 body of the glume ; palea as long as the glume. VI. B. I. v. 7, p. 95 ; 

 Trim. Yl Ceyl. v. 5, p. 185 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) 

 p. 435 ; Prain, Beng. PL p. 1185 ; Wall, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 4, p. 317. 

 Leersia aristata, Eoxb. PI, Ind. v. 2 (1832) p. 207 ; Grab. Cat. p. 235. 

 — Flowers : Apr. 



Gujarat: Cliikli, IVoodroiv.—Distmn. oi t\ie genus. 



63. LEERSIA, Sw. 



Tall perennial slender marsh-grasses. Leaves narrow, flat. Spikelets 

 1-flowered (the florets 2-sexual), in slender contracted usually flaccid 

 panicles witJi very slender branches, articulate on the pedicels above 

 the rudimentary glumes, strongly laterally compressed. Invol.-gluuies 

 reduced to an obscure hyaline entire or 2-lobed rim ; floral glume 

 solitiuy, oblong, acute, awnless, thinly chartaceous, 3-5-nerved, the 

 lateral nerves forming the thickened margins of the glume, the keel and 

 margins i)ectinately ciliate ; palea narrow, linear or linear-lanceolate, us 

 long as the glume, rigid, 3-nerved, dorsally ciliate and with hyaline 

 margins. Lodicules 2. Stamens usually 6 (rarely 3 or fewer). Styles 

 short, distinct ; stigmas plumose, laterally exserted from the gluin(>. 

 Grain ovoid or oblong, compressed, free within the glume and palea. — • 

 DisTRiu. Species 6 or 7, mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions 

 of both hemispheres. 

 yoL. II. 3 Y 



