Panicum.] gramine.^e, 413 



at the edges. Panicle much branched and very slender, often a foot long or 

 more, the branches almost capillary, erect or spreading. Spikelets all pedi- 

 cellate and distant, about 1 line long, acute. Lowest glume more than half 

 the length of the second and third, which are both empty. 



Hongkong, Wright. Dispersed over the hilly districts of India, from the Peninsula to 

 Burmah, the Archipelago, the Philippines, and S. China. 



15. P. ovalifolium, Poir. ; Kunth, Enum. \. 113. Stems creeping and 

 rooting at the lower nodes, weak and ascending to about a foot. Leaves 

 ovate-lanceolate, seldom above 2 in. long and f to near 1 in. broad, cordate at 

 the base, and ciliate with a few long hairs. Panicle about 4 in. long, with 

 numerous capillary spreading branches. Spikelets all pedicellate, not 1 line 

 long, scarcely acute, the 3 outer glumes nearly equal in length, the second very 

 concave, the third often with a male flower in its axil. 



In ravines, Wright, Wilford, Ranee. Dispersed over tropical Asia and Africa, and occurs 

 also in eastern Brazil. The hahit is very near that of several Isachnes. 



16. P. indicum, Linn. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 113. A small grass with the 

 habit almost of an Alopecurus. Stems decumbent at the base, ascending to 

 6 in. or a foot. Leaves narrow. Panicle contracted into a dense cylindrical 

 spike, ji to 1 in. long in the Hongkong specimens, often 2 in. or more in 

 Indian ones, without awns or bristles. Spikelets acute, 1 to 1£ line long, 

 crowded but somewhat spreading, glabrous or pubescent. Lowest glume about 

 -§ as long as the second and third. Flowering glume considerably shorter. 

 — P. angustum, Trim, and P. contractual, Nees in Steud. Syn. Gram. 84. 



Common about Victoria, Wilford, Harland, Wright. Dispersed over India from the Penin- 

 sula to the Archipelago, and northward to Silhet, Assam, S. China and the Philippines. 



5. GYMNOTHRIX, Beauv. 



Spikelets and flowers of Panicum, but each spikelet surrounded by an invo- 

 lucre of long simple awn-like bristles, and all arranged in a long cylindrical 

 simple and dense spike or raceme. 



A small tropical or subtropical genus, common to the New and the Old World. 



1. G. japonica, Kunth, Enum. i. 159. A tall erect stiff grass. Leaves 

 narrow-linear, very long, the edges rolled inward when dry. Stem usually 

 hairy under the spike. Spike 4 to 8 in. long, conspicuous from the numerous 

 purplish awn-like bristles that almost conceal the flower, those of each invo- 

 lucre unequal, the longest near 1 in. long. Spikelets solitary within each 

 involucre, narrow, pointed, 3-4 lines long, on very short pedicels. Lowest 

 glume a minute almost microscopical scale, the second full half as long as the 

 spikelet, the third about as long as the flowering one, but empty, all glabrous. 



Hongkong, Hance. Common in S. China, and northward to Japan. 



6. ICHNANTHUS, Beauv. 



Spikelets and inflorescence of the large-flowered awnless paniculate Panicums, 

 except that the flowering glume has on each side at the base a small scale- 

 like oblong appendage, either free or in some species so closely adnate as to 

 appear as a depressed scar. 



A small tropical American genus, of which one species also extends into the Old World. 



