428 ghaminejE. [Phragmites. 



A small genus (or subgenus q{ Jrundo), with a still wider geographical range, extending 

 into the temperate regions both of the New and the Old World. 



1. P. Roxburghii, Kunth ; Nees, PI. Meyen. 173. Stem stout and 

 erect, 8 to 12 ft. high, covered with the leaf-sheaths. Leaves flat, 1 to 1| 

 in. broad. Panicle erect or slightly drooping, often 1 \ ft. long or more. 

 Spikelets numerous and crowded, with 3 to 5 distant flowers. Lowest glume 

 about 2 lines long, the next 3 or. 4 lines, the third or lowest flowering glume 

 6 lines long, tapering into a long point but not awned, and iisually male, the 

 others rather smaller and more pointed, the terminal pedicel small, with a mi- 

 nute rudimentary glume. 



Hongkong, Hance. Widely dispersed over India, from Ceylon and the Peninsula to the 

 Archipelago, and northward to the Himalaya, China, the Philippines, and Japan. 



35. MICROCHLOA, Br. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, awnless, singly sessile on one side of a slender simple 

 spike. Outer glumes 2, nearly equal ; the lowest with a double nerve, the 

 second keeled. Flowering glume and palea small, very thin and transparent. 



A genus of very few tropical or subtropical species, dispersed over the New and the Old 

 World. Although placed by most botanists next to Cynodon among Chloridece, it appears to 

 me to have more affinity with the Andropogonea. 



1. M. setacea, JBr.j Kunth, Enum. i. 258. Stems slender, tufted, from 

 3 or 4 to 8 or 9 in. high. Leaves fine, convolute when dry, acute. Spike 1 

 to 3 in. long, very slender and curved. Spikelets rather more than 1 line 

 long, the outer glumes very pointed. Flowering glume hairy outside, but very 

 transparent. 



Hongkong, Wright. Scattered over the tropical and subtropical regions of both the New 

 and the Old World. 



36. CYNODON, Pers. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, awnless, singly sessile in 2 rows on one side of the 

 slender spike-like almost digitate branches of a simple panicle. Outer empty 

 glumes 2, keeled. Flowering glume thinner and broader. Palea narrower, 

 folded, with a small bristle at its base, being the prolongation of the axis, and 

 sometimes bearing a rudimentary glume. 



A genus of very few species, all perhaps varieties of a single one. 



1. C. dactylon, Pers.; Kunth, Enum. i. 259. Stems prostrate, often 

 creeping and rooting to a great extent, the flowering branches shortly ascend- 

 ing. Leaves short, of a glaucous green. Spikes 3 to 5, each 1 to 1^ in. 

 long. Spikelets less than 1 line long ; the outer glumes nearly equal, open, 

 narrow, pointed. Flowering glume rather longer and much broader, becom- 

 ing hardened when in fruit. 



Hongkong, Hance. A common and troublesome weed in all hot countries, extending also 

 into some of the more temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. 



37. DACTYLOCTENIUM, Willd. 



Spikelets 2- or more-flowered, very flat and closely imbricated along one 

 side of the spike-like digitate branches of a simple panicle. Glumes spread- 

 ing, keeled and compressed, transparent but stiff, the lowest smaller, the 



