Chamaer 'aphis. .] CLXXIII. GRAMINEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 63 



branches slender ; internodes 1-2 in. Leaves 1-1^ by - in., spreading, strict, 

 linear, acute, striate, base rounded, glabrous or sparsely hairy ; sheaths broad, loose, 

 membranous, compressed, 2-auricled, glabrous; ligule short, hyaline, toothed. 

 Panicle shortly exserted beyond the upper sheath, 1-2 in. long, rachis and erecto- 

 patent subsimple branches capillary, smooth. Spikelets very shortly pedicelled, 

 grem or brownish; gl. I truncate ; II straight, sometimes long-acuminate or almost 

 beaked, glabrous or obscurely sparsely hairy, nerves close, strong; III j shorter 

 than II, subacute; IV about III. Very near the Australian C. abortiva, Poir. 

 (C. spinescens rar. parvispicula, JBenth.) which has a lax panicle with few branches 

 and spikelets. 



8. SPINIFEX, Linn. 



Stout, rigid, bushy, polygatno-dioecioas grasses. Leaves long, rigid, 

 involute. MALE SPIKELETS 2 -lid., subsessile, articulate on rigid peduncled 

 spikes, which are collected in umbels surrounded by spathaceoas leafy- 

 bracts ; glumes 4, membranous, not awned ; I and II empty ; III and IV" 

 paleate, triandrous. FEM. SPIKELETS collected in large globose heads of 

 stellately spreading very long rigid rod-like rachides, surrounded by 

 shorter subulate bracts ; each spikelet solitary, and articulate at the very 

 base of a rachis, lanceolate, 2-fld. Glumes I, II, III, as in the male, but 

 larger ; III paleate, empty or triandrous ; IV fern. Lodicules 2, large, 

 nerved. Styles long, free ; stigmas shortly feathery. Grain free within 

 the hardened glumes. Species 4 ; an Indian and 3 Australasian. 



S. squarrosus, Linn. Mant. ii. 300; glabrous, glaucous, leaves 

 pungent, male spikes 2-3 in., spikelets distant, fern, spikelets concealed 

 by the bracts. Lamk. Illust. t. 840; Kunth Enum. PI. i. 175; Wall. 

 Cat. n. 8631; Steud. Syn. Gram. 113 ; Thw. Enum. PI. Zeyl. 362; Trim. 

 Cat. Ceyl. PL 106; Elliott Fl. Adrh. 163; Lisboa in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. v. (1890) 339; Duthie Grass. N.W. Ind. 11 ; Benth. Fl. Ho'ngk. 

 415; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 474. S. dioicus, Ham. ex Pritz. Icon. Index, 

 1058. Stipa littorea, Burm. f. FL Ind: 29. S. spinifex, Linn. Mant. i. 84. 

 Rheede Hort. Mai. xii. t. 75. 



Sandy coasts of both PENINSULAS, BURMA, and CEILON. DISTBIB. Java, China. 



A squarrose gregarious bush, several feet high and broad. Leaves 4-6 in. ; 

 sheaths often imbricating; ligule very short, hirsute. Peduncles of male 2-3 in. ; 

 scaberulous, tips naked, pungent. Male spikelets -j-^in.; gls. thin, all glabrous, 

 I and II subequal, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 7-9-nerved, nerves scaberulous ; 



III rather longer, 5-nerved, paleate ; IV shorter, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 5- 

 nerved; paleas of III. and IV. narrowly lanceolate, keels ciliate. Fern, spikelets 

 | in., narrowly lanceolate; gls. all glabrous, I oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, man;v- 

 uerved, nerves scaberulous ; II rather shorter, acute, 7-nerved; III like II, 5-nerved; 



IV ovate-lanceolate, abruptly narrowed above the middle and acuminate, 5-nerved ; 

 palea shorter but broader than the gl., acute, 2-nerved, keels smooth, style yery 

 long, branches slender. 



9. AXONOPUS, Beauv. 



Perennial grasses. Spikelets 2-fld., articulate with the pedicel, sessile 

 or subsessile in whorled or digitate spikes, awned. Glumes 4, I shortest, 

 ovate, acuminate or cuspidate, glabrous, 3-nerved ; II ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate or awned, 5-nerved, lateral nerves marginal villous ; III oblong, 

 acute, 5-nerved, paleate, male, palea very short 2-fid or 2-partite ; IV = II, 



