76 SOUTH INDIAN GRASSES 



with unequal tubercle-based bristly hairs on the nerves of the 

 glumes and with short minute hairs on the outer surface of the 

 glumes, 1/12 to % inch; awn V\ inch to 5/ 16 inch. 



There are four glumes. The first glume is Yz to Y /2 of the third 

 glume, suborbicular, abruptly acuminate or rarely mucronate and 5- 

 nerved (very rarely 5- to 7-nerved), clasping at base and margins 

 thinly ciliolate. The second glume is ovate oblong, short, awned and 

 5-nerved ; sometimes with partial nerves at the apex between the 

 central and the lateral nerves, and then 5-to 7-or 5-to 9-nerved his- 

 pidly hairy on the nerves, margins ciliolate. The third glume is as 

 long as the second, ovate-oblong and the apex abruptly ending in a 

 stout scabrid nerved awn, varying in length from H to % inch rarely 

 I inch; 5- to 7-nerved (two partial at tip), paleate and sometimes with 

 three stamens ; palea is hyaline, ovate-oblong with infolded margins. 

 The fourth glume is smooth, shining, broadly oblong, faintly 5- 

 nerved, apex rounded or cuspidate with a few cilia ; paleate with 

 a single bisexual flower ; palea is similar to the glume in structure. 

 Anthers are orange yellow, and lodicules are very small. Stigmas 

 are white. Grain is smooth and ovoid. 



This grass grows in paddy fields and wet places generally. It 

 is considered to be a very good fodder grass in Australia and 

 America. This is the "Barn-yard" grass of the Americans, 

 highly valued as a fodder grass. 



Distribution. — Throughout India in wet places and in paddy 

 fields. 



