OLXXIII. GRAMINEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 103 



> 30. DIMERIA, J,V. 



Slender annual or perennial grasses. Leaves narrow. S pikelets l-flL, 

 unilateral on a single terminal spike or several racemed spikes, sessile or 

 pedicelled, rachis inarticulate. Glumes 4, I linear, rigid ; II broader com- 

 pressed ; III smaller, hyaline, empty ; IY hyaline, bisexual, entire or 

 2-lobed, keeled, 1-nerved, usually awned ; awn terminal or in the sinus, 

 capillary, twisted at or below the middle. Lodicules minnte or 0. Stamens 

 2, filaments short ; anthers small. Styles distinct, stigmas short. Grain 

 linear, laterally compressed, free. Species 12 or 14, tropical Asiatic and 

 Australian ; all want revision with more copious material. 



* Spike solitary ; spikelets conniving ; gl. I erect, II not appressed to 

 the rachis of the spike. 



1. D. pusilla, Thw. En,um. PL Zeyl. 369 ; stem filiform, leaves short, 

 rachis very slender compressed-trigonous, spikelets -y in. long sessile or 

 pedicelled, gl. II acuminate awned. Hack. Monogr. Androp. 78 ; Trim. Gat. 

 Geyl. PI. 107. 



The DECCAN PENINSULA and CEYLON (CP. 957.) 



Very variable, 6-18 in. high. Amongst the many forms the following appear 

 the most distinct. I cannot satisfactorily identify them with HackePs descriptions. 



D. pusilla, proper ; steins 6-8 in. filiform, rachis of spike filiform trigonous 

 smooth or scaberulous on the angles, spikelets pedicelled, pedicel usually naked below 

 villous upwards. D. pusilla, Th-w. I.e. ?Hack. Monog. Androp. 78. Ceylon; at 

 Kokotodua, Gardner (CP. 957 in, part). This and the following I have described 

 from Thwaites' type specimens. 



Var. pallida, Thw. mss. ; stem as in D. pusilla proper, spikelets all sessile, or 

 the lowest on the spike pedicelled, awn of gl. I shorter. ?i>. Thwaitesii, Hack. 

 I.e. Ceylon at Damboul, Thwaites (CP. 3985). 



Var. elatior ; stem 12 in., stouter, somewhat branched, spike longer, rachis as 

 broad as the shortly pedicelled spikelets keeled down the centre margins scaberulous, 

 awn of gl. I sometimes as long as the gl. CEYLON ; at Trincomalee ; Q-lenie (CP. 

 957). 



Var. Lawsoni, stem short leafy, spike inclined, rachis broader than the sessile 

 villous spikelets, margins ciliate, glume II shortly awned. Malabar; Wynaad, 

 Lawson. 



2. D. XLurzii, stem 10-18 in. erect, rachis of spike rather broader 

 than the sessile spikelets strongly ciliate, gl. II acute not awned, more 

 or less ciliate. 



BURMA, Kurz (n. 2741) ; Mergui, Griffith. 



Much stouter than any form of D. pusilla, which the spike closely resembles j 

 but the spikes are longer, -|-2 in. ; spikelets -^ in. long. The spikes are some- 

 times inclined or recurved as in the species with several on the peduncle, hence 

 two spikes may occur. Kurz's specimens are very slender, 12-18 in. long ; 

 Griffiths' solitary one is in a very young state, with broader leaves sheathing the 

 spike. 



** Spikes 2-3; erect spreading or involute ; gl. I erect or spreading; 

 II usually closely appressed to the rachis. 



t Rcuc/iis capillary. 



3. X>. Hohenackeri, Hochst. ex Miy. in VerK. Ned. Inst. III. iv. 

 (1851) 35, stem capillary, spikes very slender, rachis filiform trigonous, 

 spikelets distant narrow pedicelled, gl. II acuminate dorsally ciliate. Hack. 

 Monog. Androp. 79 ; Lisboa in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. vi. (1891), 189. 



