10-16 CXLAII. GRAMINE.E. 



1. Oropetium Thomseum, Trin. Fund. Agrost. (1820) p, 98. 

 "Whole plant '2-6 in. \ng\\, forming hard tufts with capillary root- 

 fibres; steuis compressed. Leaves shorter or longer than the stems, 

 erect or curved, Uliform, acute, coriaceous, striate, sparsely filiate with 

 long hairs ; sheaths membranous, compressed ; ligule an erect lacerate 

 membrane. Spikes l-lj by ^^ in., erect, straight or sliglitly curved ; 

 rhachis undulating, 4-gonous. JSpikelets reaching ^ in. long, acute, 

 1-fiowered. Lower invol. -glume minute, hyaline ; upper invol. -glume 

 Jj in. long, linear-lanceolate, rigid, recurved in fruit; floral glume 

 ■Jg- in. long, semicircular in profile, 2-fid, hyaline ; callus bearded. 

 Anthers ^^ in. long. Grain -g^^ in. long, somewhat fusiform, reddish- 

 brown, 'm. B. I. V. 7, p. 36G ; Dalz. & Gibs. p. 300 ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. 

 V. 5, p. 271 ; AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 13 (1901) p. 441 ; 

 Prain, Beng. PI. p. 1231. 



On o\A v/'aWs, DalzeU i.^- Gibson. Deccan : Poona, Woodrow ; Junnar ueiir Pooiia, 

 Woodrotv. — DiSTiiiB. Throughout the phiins of India; Ceylon. 



G9. BAMBUSA, Schreb. 



Shrubs or trees usually large and cfespitose (rarely climbing); stem- 

 sheaths broad, the blade often triangular. Leaves shortly petiolate, not 

 tessellate by nervules but sometimes so by pellucid glands ; sheaths 

 variously auricled. Spikelets l-flo\verecl, usually arranged in a large 

 leafless panicle bearing heads or spiciform branches, or in leafy panicles, 

 or in paniculate spikes. Lower glumes 1-4, empty or bulbiferous; 

 flowering glumes ovate-lanceolate, the uppermost imperfect ; palea 

 2-keeled. Lodicules 2 or 3, membranous, ciliate, rarely obsolete. 

 Stamens 6, free. Ovary oblong or obovoid, with a hairy tip ; styles 

 short or long; stigmas 2-3. Grain oblong or linear-oblong, furrowed 

 on one side ; pericarp thin, adherent to the seed. — Disteib. Species 

 about 50, Eastern Asia, 1 in Austraha. 



1. Bambusa arundinacea, WUld. Sp. PI. v. 2 (1799) p. 245. 

 Thorny ; stems many, tufted on a stout rootstock, 80-100 ft. high by 

 6-7 in. in diam., usually graceful and curving ; nodes prominent (the 

 lowest rooting), the lower emitting horizontal, almost naked shoots 

 armed at the nodes with 2-3 stout recurved spines sometimes 1 in. or 

 more long; internodes up to 18 in. long ; walls 1-2 in. thick; stem- 

 sheaths coriaceous, variable in shape, up to 12-15 by 9-12 in., striate, 

 with I'ounded tip and plaited margins, when young orange-yellow 

 streaked with green or red and thickly ciliate with golden hairs, blade 

 up to 4 in. long, triangular, acuminate, glabrous outside, densely hirsute 

 inside, the margins d(!current, thickly ciliate ; ligule narrow, entire or 

 fringed with pale hairs. Leaves up to 7-8 by 1 in., linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, tip stilT, glabrous or pubcrulous beneath, one or more margins 

 scabrous, base rounded, ciliate, midrib narrow, nerves 4-0 with 7-9 inter- 

 mediate and a few transverse pellucid glands ; leaf-sheath ending in a 

 thick callus and shortly bristly auricle ; ligule short. Inflorescence an 

 enormous panicle often occupying the ^^hole stem; branchlets bearing 

 loose clusters of pale, suberect, lanceolate, acute, glabrous spikelets 

 4-1 by 4 in. Invol. -glumes 2 or 0, ovate-lanceolate, acute or mucronate, 

 I-' in. long, many-nerved, empty ; floral glumes 3-7, the uppermost 



