Eragrostis.'] GRAMINE.E. 433 



broad, the flowering glumes taper almost to a point, and the seeds are much 

 narrower. — Poa polymorpha, Br. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 333. 



Very common throughout the island, Wilford, Hance, and others. Widely spread over 

 tropical Asia and Australia. 



8. E. zeylanica, Nees in PL Meyen. 204. This species is again very 

 nearly allied to the two last, and has the same narrow leaves, but it appears 

 to be more rigid and probably perennial. The panicle is stiff and less spread- 

 ing, with few branches, and sometimes reduced to an interrupted spike. 

 Spikelets as in E. Brownei, about 1 line broad, with almost pointed flowering 

 glumes, but sessile or nearly so, in clusters of 2 or 3, or sometimes solitary 

 along the branches of the panicle. 



Hongkong, with the last, Hance ; at Little Hongkong and Aberdeen, Wilford. Widely 

 spread over India and the Archipelago, probably in drier and hotter localities than the E. 

 Brownei. 



9. E. geniculata, Nees in PL Meyen. 203. Stems rather stiff, branch- 

 ing or decumbent at the base, ascending to 6 or 8 in. or rarely 1 ft. Leaves 

 narrow and very pointed. Spikelets mostly sessile, in a dense spike-like pa- 

 nicle of 1 to 1£ in., the short branches usually hairy in the axils. Each 

 spikelet oblong, very flat, 6- to 10-flowered, about 3 lines long and near 1 

 line broad, much like those of E. zeylanica. Glumes all, pointed. 



Hongkong, Wright; Cum Syng Moon, Meyen; Amoy, Hance. Not known out of S. 

 China. 



44. LOPHATHERUM, Brongn. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, sessile on alternate sides of the simple branches of a 

 panicle. Glumes keeled, green, with scarious edges, 2 outer empty ones ob- 

 tuse or slightly pointed, the third or flowering one similar, but with a short stiff 

 awn, and several smaller empty ones with short awns terminating the axis. 

 Palea transparent, folded, with 2 prominent green ribs. Grain free. 



A genus limited probably to a single species. 



1. L. gracile, Brongn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 391. Stems ascending to 2 or 

 3 ft. Leaves ^ to 1 in. broad, very pointed, and often stalked above the 

 sheath as in Bambusa. Panicle consisting of a few distant stiff branches 3 

 or 4 in. long. Spikelets distant, lanceolate, 4 to 6 lines long, the short awns 

 of the terminal empty glumes forming a little tuft. Glumes often ciliate on 

 the edges. Awns of the flowering one always shorter than the glume itself. — 

 L. Lehmanni, Nees in Steud. Syn. Gram. 300. 



Hongkong, Wright, Hance. Dispersed over India, from Ceylon and the Peninsula to the 

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



45. ARUNDINARIA, Rich. 



Habit of a Bambusa. Spikelets several-flowered, awnless, compressed, not 

 clustered, in simple racemes or branched panicles. Glumes stiff, distichous, 

 often distant, concave, smooth or ribbed, pointed, the 2 outer empty ones 

 smaller and unequal, 1 or 2 upper ones empty or rudimentary. Stamens and 

 styles 3. 



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



2 I 



