Pant cum."] CLXXIII. GRAMINE^E. (J. D. Hooker.) 49 



Annual. Stems 2-3 ft., densely tufted, erect from the root. Leaves 6-10 by - fc 

 in., flat, soft, and sheaths more or less densely clothed with soft white spreading 

 hairs ; ligulea ridge of hairs. Panicle lu-18 in. long ; branches angular, scaberulons. 

 Spikelets solitary or geminate, red-brown. Glumes rather soft ; II deciduous ; IV 

 pale yellow or brownish, sessile, margins narrowly incurved. The Bornean and 

 Philippine specimens are more slender and less hairy than the Indian. 



ft Perennials. 



Glume I very small, suborbicular, white, nerveless ; (0 in P. sube- 

 glume) ; III 3-9-nerved, paleate or not. Spikelets usually very shortly 

 pedicelled. 



36.* P. maximum, Jacq. Ic. PL Ear. i. t. 13; Coll. i. 76; tall, 

 stout, erect, leafy, leaves long broadly linear or linear-lanceolate glabrous 

 panicle large decompound, lower branches whorled usually hairy, pedicels 

 unequal capillary, spikelets Yo~rV m - solitary or in pairs elliptic-oblong 

 acute or obtuse glabrous, gl. I = i III white 0-3-nerved, II and III sub- 

 equal 3-7-nerved, III paleate male, IV elliptic subacute transversely rugu- 

 lose. Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. i. 170 ; Nees Agrost. Bras. 166, Fl. Afr. Austr. 36 ; 

 Trin. Gram. Panic. 221 ; Pan. Gen. 130 ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 72 ; Wall. Cat. 

 n. 8715 A. B (in part) D. ; Trim. Gat. Geyl. &1. 105; Aitchis. Cat. Panjdb 

 PL 159 ; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 549 ; Baker FL Maurit. 436 ; Boiss. Fl. 

 Orient, v. 439. P. altissimum, Brouss. Elench. Hort. Monsp. (1805) 42 ; 

 Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. FL Suppl. 98. P. confusurru Trin. ex Steud. Nom. 

 Ed. II ii. 254. P. eburneum, Trin. Pan. Gen. 180 ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 73. 

 P. Equisetumj, Nees, && JJoell in Mart. Fl. Bras. ii. II, 206. P._ f ascicu- 

 latum, " PL "Carib. non Sw.," Griseb. FL Brit. W. Ind. 549. P.^gongylodes. 

 tttf}. Eclog. Gram. 30,t.21. P. jumentorum, Pers. Syn. i. 83 ; J. B. & jC 

 Nov. Gen. $ Sp. i. 104; Thw. ffiium. PL Zeyl. 361 : DutUe Grass. N.W. 

 Ind. 5,Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 9. P. lasvq. Lawik. III. i. 172. P. longipes, 

 Wight Sf Arn. in Wiglit Cat. n. 16^. P. megiston, Schult. Mant. ii. 248. 

 P. pamplemousaense, Steud. I. c. 71. P. po I y gam urn ,_Sw . Prodr. Veg. 

 Ind. Occ. 24. P. praticolum. Saltzm. ex l)oeu in jdari. Fl. Bras. ii. 11, 

 203. P. trichocondylum, Steud. I. c. 74. P. tuberculatum, Presl Rel. 

 HsenJc. i. 307.^ ' 



Cultivated in many parts of INDIA. Native of Africa. 



Perennial ? 8-10 ft. high ; stem branching, branches erect, nodes nalced or 

 bearded. Leaves 1-2 ft. by -1 in., gradually narrowed from a small rounded or 

 auricled base to a long filiform point, quite smooth, nearly glabrous; sheaths 

 long, mouth villous ; ligule of long hairs. Panicle 1-2 ft., quite erect, branches 

 erect, filiform, smooth ; pedicels usually shorter than the spikelets, glabrous 

 or very sparsely pubescent, bright green, glistening, gK thin. This grass is 

 described both as an annual and a perennial. Trinius' description of P. eburueum I 

 think refers it to maximum ; it is described as from Nepal. 



Yar. /3, Boiss. I. c. ; spikelets shortly hairy, gl. Ill neuter. Peshawur, Aitchison. 

 Affghan. Apparently a smaller plant than typical P. maximum. 



37. P. repens, Linn. Sp. PI. Ed. 2, 87 ; stem creeping and stoloniferous^ 

 below,leave"s ais'tichous linear-lanceolate flat or convolute glaucous, panicle 

 usually contracted irregularly branched, branches 2-3-nate strict, spikelets 

 YO in. sessile or shortly pedicelled ovate-lanceolate acute white, gl. I = ^ 

 111 orbicular, II and III eubequal ovate acute sub-5-nerved, III paleate 

 or not male or neuter, IV oyate ac.nte smooth. Sibth. Fl. Grsec. i. t. 61 ; 

 Nees Aqrost.Bras. 171 ; Kunth Enum. PL i. 103 ; Trim. Cat. Geyl. Pl.lVb ; 



VOL. vil. E 



