Paspalum.'] CLXXIII. GRAMINE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) 11 



Austral, vii. 460. P. alternans, Steud. L c. 26. P. auriculatum & cartila- 

 gineurnj Presl Rel. Haenk. i. 217, 216. ? P. bifarium, Edgc.w. in Jour n. As. 

 ^."'lieny. xxi. (1853) 178. P. coloratura, Rich, ex Doell in Mart. Fl 

 Hras. ii. II. 78. P. Commersoni, Lamk. Illustr. i. 175. P. coroman.de- 

 liamim, Lamk. I. c. ; Kunth I. c. 55 ; Steud. I. c. 32. P. dissectum, Linn. 

 Sy&LiL.S6. P. dimidiatum, Linn. Syst. Ed. x. 855. P. firmum, Trin. 

 Gram,. Panic. 105, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 125; Kunth I.e. 60. P. flexuosum, 

 Klein ex Presl 1. c. 2L5 ; Kunth I.e. 54; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 432. P. 

 frumentaceum, Rottb. ex Roem. f Sch. Syst. ii. 296 ; Koen. ex Trin. Gram. 

 Panic. 57 ; Kunth I. c. 53. P. liirsutum, Retz. Ob*, ii. 7 ; Kunth I c. 33 ; 

 Miq. 1. c. 433. P. Houttnynii, II. G. Hall -e$ de Vriese in PL Ind. Sat. 

 Rtinw. 113. . Kora, Willd. Sp. PL i. 332 ; Host Gram. Austr. t. 74 ; 

 Beauv. Fl. Owar. ii. 5, t. 61 ; Roxb. 1. c. ; Grah. L c.; Duthie Indig. Fodd. 

 Grass, t. 2. P. longifolium, Roxb. I. c. 280; Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 138 ; 

 Wight Gat. n. 1602, Herb. n. 1600. P. mauritanicum, Nees ex Steud. I.e. 

 26. P. metabolon, P. Metzii, and P. mollipilum, Steud. L c. 19, 21, 29. P. 

 orbiculare, Forst. Prodr. 7; Fluegge L c. 88. P. polystachyum and P. 

 pubescens, Br. Prodr. 188 ; Kunth I. c. 54, 55. P. puberulum, Roern. Sf Sch. 

 Syst. ii. 316 (Paspalus). P. sumatrense, Roth Nov. Sp. 35 ; Kunth I. c. 55. 

 P! Thunbergii, Kunth ex Steud. 1. c. 28 ; Franch. & Sav. En. PL Jap. 159. 

 P. venustum, Forst. f. ex Roem. Sf Sch. I. c. 297. P. Zollingeri, Steud. L c. 

 28. Panicum dissectum, Linn. Sp. JP$. 57. Paspalum, Wall. Gat. n. 8754. 

 Eheede Sort. Mai. xii. t. 84. Sloane Hist. Jam. i. t. 69, f. 2. 



Throughout hotter INDIA (wild or cultivated), from the Pan jab eastwards and 

 southwards to Singapore and Ceylon. DISTRIB. All warm countries. 



Annual, erect or base very shortly decumbent, 1-6 ft. high, leafy, glabrous, 

 rarely hairy. Leaves acuminate ; ligule short, membranous. Peduncle rather slender. 

 Spikes 2-8, 1-3 in. long, alternate, erect or spreading; rachis T V~- nj ^ n - broad, 

 margins ciliate or serrulate. Spikelets in 2, rarely 3-4 rows, imbricate, glabrous or 

 sparsely pubescent, sometimes geminate on a common pedicel ; gl. I convex ; II 

 flat with two STibmarginal strong nerves, along the inner margins of which the gl. is 

 sometimes marked with shallow transverse pits (whence the specific name) ; gl. III. 

 with inflexed auricled margins. I find it impossible to classify the large series of 

 specimens of this variable plant under available varieties. Roxburgh regarded the 

 Indian forms as 3 species, scrobiculatum, Kora, and longifolium. Between the 

 first two of these he gives no differential characters, beyond that of scrobiculatum 

 Laving erect stems 2 ft. high and being a cultivated form, whereas Kora is indigenous, 

 growing on the banks of watercourses and attaining 8 ft. (? error for 3 ft., as in the 

 description that follows) and has the stem decumbent at the base. P. longifolium 

 he separates by the creeping sterns, geminate terminal spikes and pitted seeds, but as 

 Trinius describes the pitting is microscopic (as in other forms of the species). Having 

 regard to the specimens before me, I recognize with more or less confidence (1) a form 

 with larger dorsally tumid spikelets, which I assume to be the cultivated form (includ- 

 ing orbiculare, frumentacum, Kora, coromandelianum, and hirsutum) ; its gl. II is 

 either pitted or not ; and (2) a form with rather smaller spikelets, often in 3-4 rows, 

 and gl. II never pitted, to which I refer longifolium, Zollingeri, and dissectum 

 (which latter is the earliest name (under Panicurn) of the species). It 

 abounds all over India, and is the only form of which I have seen Malayan specimens. 

 Besides the synony ms adduced above, as to which I am pretty well assured, there 

 may be perhaps many more to be added. 



2. P. conjugatum, Bery. in Act. Hehet. vii. (1772) 129, t. 8; 

 spikes 2 terminal or 1 subterminal very slender, spikelets y^r i n> subsessile 

 orbicular nearly flat, gl. II byaline margins villously ciliate. Sw. FL 

 Ind. Occ. i. 133; Fluegge Monorjr. Gram. 102 (Paspalus); Beane. FL Owen: 

 56, t. 92, f. 2; Trin. Panic. Gen. 54, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 102; Kunth jfiVm-. 

 Gram. 25, JEnum. PI. i. 51 ; Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI 104. P. bicruruluui et 



