Ischcemum.'] CLXXIII. GRAMINEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 135 



ft Keel of ffl. II. not winged (or winged in I. nmrinum). 



18. I. murinum, Forst. PL Ins. Austr. Prodr. 73 ; slender, erect or 

 prostrate below, much branched, leaves narrowly linear, spikes 2-3 slender 

 villous, gl. I of sessile spikelets oblong acuminate 2-cuspidate or 2-nmcro- 

 nate faintly 5-7-nerved, keels rounded not winged, II long-beaked awned, 

 1Y cleft to the middle, awn long stout inserted between the large eciliate 

 lobes. KuntJi Enum. PI. i. 571, Suppl. 419 ; Hack. Monogr. Androp. 223. 

 Andropogon murinus, Steud. Syn. Gram. 377. Spodiopogon, sp. 9, Herb. 

 Ind. Or. Hook. f. # T. 



MYSORE or the CARNATIC, G. Thomson. DISTRB. Tanna Isld. (New Caledonia). 



Stems 1-2 ft., very slender, erect or prostrate and geniculate at the base, branch- 

 ing upwards; nodes bearded. Leaves 2-4 by -5 in., sessile, flaccid, setaceously 

 acuminate, narrowed to the rounded base, midrib vanishing upwards ; sheath 

 scaberulous; ligule ohlong, membranous. Spikes 1-1! in., often sheathed by the 

 upper leaves, drying red-brown ; joints and pedicels = ^ spikelet, rather slender, 

 trigonous, long-ciliate, tops 3-toothed concave. Sessile spikelets ^in., red-brown, 

 callus long, stout, unilaterally stiffly bearded; gl. I dorsally polished, sparsely 

 ciliate with long stiff hairs above the middle, margins ventricosely incurved below 

 the middle ; II longer than I, inserted below it on the callus, dorsally convex, faintly 

 3-nerved, beak.2 -toothed with a long or short very slender awn, keel above shortly 

 winged or not ; III male, oblong-lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, margin's incurved ; palea 

 as long 2-nerved, nerves convergent in the tip scaberulous with broad hyaline wings, 

 IV = II, female, glabrous, awn dilating at its insertion into a semilunar ridge ; 

 palea as long as the gl., ovate, lanceolate, 2-nerved at the base. Styles very 

 long, stigmas short. Pedicelled spikelets nearly as the sessile. This species is 

 contained in an extensive Herbarium formed by G. Thomson, Esq. (brother of the 

 late Superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens). The flowers in each 

 spikelet are strictly unisexual. 



19. I. hirtum, Hack. Monogr. Androp. 228 ; stout, suberect, leaves 

 long, spikes few or many, gl. I of sessile spikelet lanceolate acuminate or 

 2-cuspidate 6-9-nerved villous above or glabrate, II aristulate dorsally 

 rounded, IV oblong acutely 2-lobed ciliate awned in the cleft. I. rivale, 

 Hack. I. c. Spodiopogon rivalis, Thw. mss. 



BENGAL, BEHAR and the KHASIA HILLS, alt. 4-6000 ft. CHOTA NAGPORE 

 and CENTRAL INDIA. NILGHIRI HILLS, alt. 5000 ft. CEYLON; Mateke East, 

 Beckett. 



Stem 2-3 ft., nodes glabrous or sparsely bearded. Leaves 4-8 by |-1 in., finely 

 acuminate, base narrowed or rounded, glabrous or sheath sparsely hairy; ligule 

 short, ciliate. Spikes 2-20, 1-4 in., joints and pedicels subequal, rather slender, 

 trigonous, ciliate. Spikelets ^-iin.; callus long-bearded; gl. I more or less her- 

 baceous, 6-9-nerved above the middle, margins broadly incurved below ; II inserted 

 below I on thp callus, sometimes 2-dentate, 3-5-nerved, villous or glabrate; III 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, faintly 3-nerved, ciliate, paleate, male or neuter ; palea 

 oblong, centre chartaceous with hyaline ciliate wings ; IV ciliolate ; awn very slender, 

 1 J in., confluent with the gl., base semilunar ; palea as long as the gl. Pedicelled 

 spikelets gl. I awned, narrowly winged or not. The Nilghiri plant is a very tall 

 stout form, with long leaves, and a corymbiform fascicle of more than 20 spikes, its 

 gl. IV is more deeply cleft, and the awn is not produced downwards in the body of 

 the gl. 



Hackel, who was not aware how widely spread and variable a species it is, keeps 

 I. hirtum and rivale as distinct species, thus distinguished : J. hirtum, leaves hirsute 

 on both surfaces, spikes 2-3, gl. I of sessile spikelet entirely chartaceo-herbaceous 

 with 7-9 percurrent nerves, densely hirsute in the upper half. Khasia Hills. /. 



