PolUnia.] CLXXIII. GRAMINE^J. (J. D. Hooker.) 113 



rarely in. broad, acute, short and filiform in some Nilghiri specimens, glabrous or 

 hairy ; ligule short, bearded. Spikes 1-3 in., stout, dark brown, rather distant, 

 joints about as long as the spikelets. Spikelets linear-oblong ; gl. I dorsally densely 

 villous chiefly at the sides and above ; II tip narrowly truncate, keel obscure hairy 

 about the middle ; III as long as I, nerveless, ciliate above the middle ; IV half as 

 long, awn stout inserted in the cleft, broadening out and vanishing. A Tonkin 

 specimen is 3| ft. with broader leaves and white hairs on the rachis. 



10. P. birmanica, Hook. f. ; tall, stout from a very stout rootstock 

 with rusty-woolly basal sheath, leaves narrow glabrous, spikes few 3-6 in. 

 strict erect, rachis stout villous, spikelets | in. oblong, gl. I narrowly 

 truncate nerveless, IV very narrow 2-fid eciliate. 



BURMA ; Yomah, Kurz. 



Rootstock as large as a walnut. Stem 4-5 ft., villous below the panicle ; nodes 

 pubescent. Leaves 10-18 in., smooth, glabrous. Spikes closely appressed to the 

 rachis, villous with golden-brown hairs ; joints as long as the spikelet, obliquely 

 truncate. Spikelets dark brown ; gl. I dorsally flat, sparsely villous, sides copiously 

 so, margins rather broadly incurved from base to apex ; II narrowly oblong, 

 obscurely keeled, sides villous ; III oblong-lanceolate, hyaline, ciliate ; IV very 

 small, awn -| in. long ; palea orbicular-ovate, long-ciliate. Possibly only a very 

 large form of P. phceothrix, with a stout rootstock, and rachis of the spikes narrower. 



11. P. speciosa, Hack. Monogr. Androp. 159; tall, stout, basal 

 sheaths clothed with pale yellow-brown wool, leaves narrow usually 

 villously hirsute, spikes 3-5 often very long slender rlexuous villous with pale 

 yellow-brown hairs, spikelets | in. oblong, gl. I narrowly truncate faintly 

 4-nerved back and sides villous, IY narrowly 2-fid lobes acute eciliate, 

 awn tortuous and twisted, palea very small suborbicular. Erianthus 

 speciosus, Debeaux in Act. Linn. Soc. Bord. xxxii. (1878) 53. Erianthus, 

 No. 9, Herb. Ind. Or. Hf. % T. 



KHASIA HILLS, alt. 5-8000 ft., common. NAGA HILLS, Pram. DISTEIB. 

 China. 



Stems 3-4 ft., densely tufted, peduncle silky below the panicle. Leaves 12-18 by 

 j in., densely villously tomentose on both surfaces in the Khasia specimens (var. hete- 

 rotricha, Hack, mss.), tips filiform ; ligule a long beard. Spikes 3-8 in. , joints slender 

 = | the spikelet. Spikelets with sometimes parti- coloured hairs, those of the callus 

 white or concolorous ; gl. I narrowly oblong-lanceolate ; II subacute, dorsally 

 sparsely hairy, margins ciliate ; III linear-oblong, ciliate ; IV shorter, linear-oblong, 

 lobes shorter than the gl. ; awn several times longer than the spikelet, vanishing 

 downwards in the gl. Lodicules 2-fid, ciliate. The Naga Hill specimen has 

 glabrous leaves like the Chinese. Closely resembles P. hirtiflora and quadrinervis, 

 differing in the woolly ba.sal sheaths, colour of hairs of spike, and narrow gl. IV. 

 In Sampson's Chinese specimens preserved at Kew (the p'lant described by Hackel) 

 the base of the stem is wanting; but in fine ones collected at Ichang by Henry, the 

 basal sheaths are woolly, exactly as in the Khasian plant. 



12. P. velutina, HacTc. Monogr, Androp. 169; tall, stout, basal 

 sheaths villous with long silky hairs, leaves narrow glabrous, spikes 3-8 

 long, villous with long pale yellow-brown hairs, spikelets in. oblong, 

 gl. I narrowly truncate 2-cuspidate 4-nerved, back and sides villous, IV 

 narrowly 2-fid or 2-toothed eciliate, awn tortuous and twisted, palea 

 broadly ovate shortly ciliate. 



KHASIA HILLS, alt. 4-5000 ft. J. D. H. $ T. T., Clarke. 



Except in the silky villous clothing of the basal sheaths of the stem, this hardly 

 differs from glabrous states of P. speciosa ; but whereas the leaves of speciosa are 

 VOL. VII. I 



