148 STUDIES IN INDIAN SUGARCANE SEEDLINGS 



Class 5. — (40) Leaves revolute or, at an,y rate, sinuous. 



Class 6. — (20) Leaf tips with a sharp backward curve, the youngest 

 leaf usually witli a long erect point, otherwise resembling the last class. 



Class 7. — (20) Tenai-like seedlings {Setaria italica). 



Class 8.— (20) Broad leafed plants, with strongly growing shoots, the 

 broadest leaves of which varied between 1-6" to 2-0" in width. 



Class 9.— (20) Narrow leafed plants, with strongly growing shoots, the 

 broadest leaves of which were less than 1-3" wide. 



Class 10. — (20) Transverse marks sharply coloured. 



Class 11. — (20) Transverse marks not strongly coloured, often pale green 

 (»r yellowish. 



Class 12.- (10) Leaf tips erect (only 12 being met with). 



Class 13.— (40, all that could be found in 200) Duplicate broad leafed lot, 

 widest leaves varying between 1-3" — 1-6". 



Class 14. — (40, although more could have been obtained in 200) Dupli- 

 cate narrow leafed lot, widest leaves under 1-3". 



Class 15.— (10 plants, all that could be obtained in 200) An addition 

 to class 6, small, slender, dark green seedlings with poor tillering. 



Class 16. — (30) More or less bushy plants, with or without a main strong 

 shoot. 



Class 17. — (30) Not bushy, with strong main shoot and few others. 



The remaining 32 unclassified, with 8 selfed seedlings added. 



A certain amount of correlation between some of these characters is 

 noticeable <see also General Habit classes, p. 133 et seq.). Thus the " Tevai- 

 like " plants, resembling Setaria italica. with a number of equal but not very 

 stron" shoots, are u'lually of a light green colour, and their leaves are narrow 

 and bend gracefully at the same angle all round. The typical purple-leafed 

 plant has dark green foliage, the plants are usually small but look very healthy, 

 the young shoots are very dark in colour and the leaves bend back very shai ply, 

 often with one very long, acicular point in the middle of the plant. The ])ink- 

 sheathed plants are often large, with comparatively few shoots and without 

 dark coloured small shoots. The erect-tipped leaves usually belong to jilants 

 of a pale green colour, often broad leafed, and so forth. These correlations 

 have not been defiiutely settled, but they give the impression that further 

 study will show that certain infantile characters of the seedlings will be found 

 to be related and, if this can be proved, a great step in advance will have been 

 made, for all present indications ])ointto the fact that any classification of the 

 cultivated sugarcanes nmst be based on the accunuilation of a number of, 



