PANICEiE o/ 



7-nerved, paleate with three stamens or empty ; pale a 2-nerved, ovate 

 or oblong, margins infolded. The fourth glume is ovate or oblong, 

 rugulose, chartaceous, apex with a distinct mucro concealed in the 

 second and third glumes ; palea same as the glume in texture, etc. 

 Anthers are yellowish ; stigmas are feathery and purple in colour ; 

 lodieules are small and fleshy. 



This is an excellent fodder grass. Though it is an annual it 

 grows rapidly under favourable conditions. A single plant found 

 growing in the compound of the Agricultural College, Coimbatore, 

 weighed 1 5 lb. and occupied 15 square feet of the ground. It flouri- 

 shes in cultivated dry fields and in rich loamy soils. (See fig. 7.) 



Distribution. — Plains of India and Ceylon and in Tropical 

 countries generally. 



