Panicum.] CLXXIII. GEAMINE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) 45 



nate 9-nerved paleate male, 1Y small ovoid acute quite smooth polisbed. 

 Del Fl JSgypt.ttl. 51, t. 9, f . 2 ; Nees Agrost. 5ms. i. 172 (in note) ; Trin. 

 Pan. Gen. 221, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 227 ; Kuntfi Enum. PI. i. 97 ; Steud. Syn. 

 Gram. 88 ; Duthie Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 13. 



SIND and CENTRAL INDIA, Duthie 1. c. DISTBIB. Beluchisfcan and westward to 

 Egypt. 



Rootstock sometimes as thick as the little finger, root fibres strong woolly ; 

 branches 2-4 ft., hard, solid, smooth, sometimes as 'thick as a goose-quill, clothed at 

 the base with imbricating scarious scales, and the nodes higher up with long scarious 

 leaf sheaths, branches sometimes forming dense subglobose fascicles at the nodes 

 2-3 in. diam., with many short reduced panicles. Leaves at the base of the stem 

 2-3 in. long, flat, coriaceous linear-lanceolate, acuminate, smooth, at the upper 

 nodes reduced to brown chartaceous open sheaths with a deciduous setiform blade, 

 ligule a row of short hairs. Panicles very variable, 1-5 in. long ; rachis and 

 branches slender, subscaberulous ; pedicels short, tips cupular. Spikelets subsejcund, 

 young ovate-lanceolate acute, mature turgid ; palea of gl. Ill broad with ciliate 

 keels; of IV coriaceous like the gl. and shining. Anthers purple. Styles short, 

 stigmas short, primrose-purple. A remarkable grass, intermediate between 

 BracJiiaria and Effusce allied to no other Indian, with something of the habit of 

 Spinifex. Duthie is my authority for the Indian habitats of this fine species; that 

 of Sind is natural, the Central Indian I doubt exceedingly. As a species it is 

 unmistakable. I should be disposed to refer it to the Erachiarict section, but Trinius 

 places it under his section Miliaria, which answers to Effusee. 



** Gl. I much shorter than III. 

 f" Annual erect leafy grasses. 



31. P. miliaceum, Linn. Sp. PI. 58 ; leaves linear acuminate and 

 sheaths clothed with long spreading hairs, base not cordate, panicle 

 tbyrsiform usually decurved or nodding, branches long slender suberect, 

 spikelets -|- in. ovate-oblong cuspidately acuminate glabrous, glumes 

 channelled between the nerves I = III 5-7-nerved, II and III subequal 

 7-11-nerved, III paleate neuter, IV broadly ovate turgid 3-5-nerved 

 polished. Host Gram. Austr. ii. 16, t. 20; Kunth Enum. PL i. 104, 

 Suppl. 81 ; Trin. Diss. ii. 186, Pan. Gen. 194, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 221 ; Steud. 

 Syn. Gram. 77; Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 82; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 310; 

 Wall. Gat. n. 8716 ; Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 105 ; Aitchis. Cat. Panjab. PL 158 ; 

 Duthie Grass. N. W. Ind. 5, Field $ Gard. Crops, t. 23, Fodd. Grass. N. 

 Ind. 9 ; Franch. fy Sav. En. PL Jap. 165. P. asperrimum, Fisch. Cat. 

 Sort. Gorenk. ex Jacq. Eclog. Gram. 46, t. 31 ; Nees Agrost. Bras. 199 ; A. 

 Rich Tent. FL Abyss, ii. 374 ; Steud. L c. P. callosum, Hochst. ex A. Rich 

 1. c. P. densepilosum, Steud. L e. 72, ex Miq. Prolus Fl. Jap. 275. P. 

 Milium, Pers. Syn. i. 83. P. pilosum, Serb. Roxb. & Serb. Seyne ex, 

 Wall. Cat. L c. P. striatum, Spreng. Syst. i. 318. Milium esculentum, 

 Moencli Metli. 203. M. Panicum, Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 8, n. 1. 



Cultivated or naturalized (Wild ?) throughout the hotter parts of INDIA, APEICA, 

 and other hot countries. 



Annual ; stems tufted, 2-4 ft., stout, branching, leafy up to the panicle, 

 often as thick as the little finger below. Leaves 6-12 by -1 in., glabrous ciliate or 

 hirsute, base narrow, margin scabrid often ciliate ; sheaths lax, deeply grooved, clothed 

 with very long spreading or reflexed hairs ; ligule of long hairs. Panicle 6-12 in., 

 branches filiform, fascicled, densely crowded, scaberulous ; pedicels often much longer 

 than the spikelets, but sometimes much shorter. Spike lets green, erect, turgid ; 

 gl. IV pale, sometimes dorsally 5-streaked. Closely allied to P. miliare and P. 

 psilopodium with which it possibly hybridizes, but with much larger spikelets. I am 



