270 



SOUTH INDIAN GRASSES 



Chloris montana, Roxb. 



This is a perennial grass usually met with on dry soils. The 

 stems are erect, tufted, geniculately ascending from a creeping base 

 rooting at the nodes, quite glabrous varying in length from 4 inches 

 to 4 feet. 



The leaf-sheaths are shorter than the internodes, flat, compressed, 

 glabrous, with a few hairs or not at the mouth and with membranous 

 margins ; the uppermost sheath is spathiform enclosing the inflor- 

 escence when young. The ligule consists of only a thin ridge of 

 short hairs densely arranged. Nodes are glabrous and dark-ringed, 

 and with fan-like spreading equitant leaf-sheaths and leaves more 

 especially when rooting. 



The leaf-blades are narrow linear, finely acuminate, rounded at 

 the base, glabrous throughout, folded flat inwards, % to 8 inches 

 long, 1/16 to }'8 inch broad. 



The inflorescence consists of three to six (very rarely up to nine) 

 spikes, I to 3 inches long, connate at the base, erect and never 

 spreading, the peduncle is slender, long, glabrous and copiously 

 pubescent just below the base of the connate spikes ; rachis is 

 angular, slender and scabrid. 



Fig. 205. — Chloris montana. 



1. A portion of the spike ; 2. a spikelet ; 3 and 4. first and second glumes; 5 and 

 5a. third glume and its palea ; 6. 7, 8 and 9. fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh glumes; 

 10. lodicules, ovary and stamens: II. grain. 



The spikelets are about }4> inch excluding the awns, shortly 

 pedicelled, unilateral, biseriate, thin and slender, I-fiowered, pale 

 or purple tinged, disarticulating above the two lower empty glumes, 

 which persist on the rachis, generally 4-awned, very rarely 3 or 5 '■> 

 awns are pale or purple T /£ to s'ifi inch ; pedicel is short, angular, 

 scaberulous with a few pilose hairs ; rachilla is produced but is 

 shorter than the flowering glume. There are usually six glumes in a 

 spikelet and very rarely five or seven glumes ; of these the first two 

 glumes are hyaline, empty, awnless ; the third is flower-bearing and 

 the rest empty, thinly coriaceous and awned. The first glume is 

 white or lightly purplish, small about 1/16 inch long, lanceolate, 



