Ccelackne.] GRAMlNEJi. 431 



In a ditch at Little Hongkong, Wilford. Also in Ceylon, the Indian Peninsula, Nepal, 

 Tavoy, and Australia. 



43. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. 



Spikelets several-flowered, flattened, awnless, numerous in a spreading or 

 compact panicle. Glumes keeled, very regularly distichous, obtuse or pointed, 

 but not awned, the 2 outer empty ones not longer, and often one or both 

 smaller than the others. Paleas prominently 2 -ribbed, often persistent after 

 the glumes have fallen. Axis of the spikelet not hairy, and very rarely arti- 

 culate. 



A considerable genus, or subgenus of Poa, widely diffused over the tropical and subtropical 

 regions of the globe, a few species spreading into more temperate climates, but neither so 

 far north or south, nor to so great elevations as Poa proper. The latter genus differs chiefly 

 in the less flattened spikelets, with fewer flowers, the axis always articulate, and often (but 

 not always) bearing a tuft of hairs under each flower. One species extends to the adjoining 

 Chinese continent, but has not yet been found in Hongkong. 



Spikelets not 1 line long, very numerous in a narrow but spreading pa- 

 nicle. Axis of the spikelet articulate. 



Paleas glabrous 1. E. tenella. 



Paleas ciliate with long spreading hairs 2. E. plumosa. 



Spikelets 2 to 4 lines long, the axis not articulate. 

 Spikelets all pedicellate. 



Spikelets linear, very loose, not \ line broad 3. E. pilosa. 



Spikelets ovate or ovate-oblong, H lines broad, very closely im- 

 bricate 4. E. unioloides. 



Spikelets linear-oblong, imbricate, f to 1 line broad. 



Leaves very hairy 5. E. pilosissima. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Spikelets loosely pedicellate, f line broad. Flowering glumes 



obtuse 6. E. orientalis. 



Spikelets shortly pedicellate, 1 line broad. Flowering glumes 



tapering almost to a point I.E. Brownei. 



Spikelets sessile or nearly so. 



Spikelets solitary or in distinct clusters along the branches of a 



narrow or spreading panicle 8. E. zeylanica. 



Spikelets crowded in a short spike-like panicle 9. E. geniculata. 



1. E. tenella, Beauv. An erect annual, 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves long 

 and narrow. Panicle narrow and slender, occupying the greater part of the 

 plant, with very numerous short capillary branches. Spikelets shortly pedi- 

 cellate, ovate, about \ line long, usually 3- or 4-flowered; the axis articulate 

 as in Poa. Flowering glumes obtuse, spreading. Palea not ciliate. — Poa 

 tenella, Linn. Spec. PI. 101 (except the reference to Plukenet). E. tenuis- 

 sima, Schrad. ; Nees, M. Afr. Aust. 410, with the synonyms there given. 

 E. aurea, Steud. Syn. Gram. 267. Sporobolm verticillatus, Nees in Kew 

 Journ. Bot. ii. 101. 



Hongkong, Hance ; also on the adjacent continent, in northern and eastern India, in the 

 Philippines, and northward to Amoy. Nees appears to have mistaken Cuming's Philippine 

 Island specimen, n. 545, for a Sporobolus. Our specimens of that n. are certainly the E. 

 tenella, but the upper flowers of each spikelet fall readily off, leaving veiy often only a sin- 

 gle one with the outer glumes, so as to appear 1 -flowered. 



2. E. plumosa, Link ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 266. Stems slender, tufted 

 or decumbent at the base, ascending to 6 in. or 1 ft. Leaves very pointed, 



