212 CLXXIII. GRAMINEJ3. (J. D. Hooker,) [Anthistiria. 



scabrid towards the tip only, callus long pungent. Kunth. Enum. PL i. 

 481 ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 401. A. Forskahlii, Kunth Revis. Gram. i. 162, 

 Enum 1. c. 483 ; Steud. 1. c. 402. A. vulgaris, Hack, in Engl. 6} Prantl. 

 Nat'url. Planzenf. ii. II. 29. Themeda triandra, Forsk. Fl. JEgypt. Arab. 

 178. T. polygama, Gmel. Syst. 149. T. Forskahlii, Hack. Monogr. 

 Androp. 659 ; Duthie Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 43. Anthistiria, Wall. Gat. 

 n. 8764, A. 0. E. F. 



Hotter drier parts of INDIA, from Upper Bengal to Travancore, ascending the 

 Himalaya to 3-4000 ft. (Var. Roylei to 10,000 ft.). BURMA. CEYLON, ascending to 

 4000 ft. DISTKIB. Warm regions of the Old World. 



Stem 1-6 ft., stout or slender, subsimple or branched. Leares 3-10 in., linear, 

 rather rigid, glabrous or sparsely hairy, green or subglaucous beneath ; ligule 

 short, ciliolate. Head of fascicles of spikes few or many, long- or short-pedun- 

 cled ; spathes glabrous or ciliate with usually very small tubercle-based hairs ; 

 proper spathes longer than the spikes, cymbiform, tips acute or subacute. Jnvolucr. 

 spikelets i in., oblong-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, red brown, dorsally hispidly 

 ciliate or glabrous, glumes 3". Bisexual spikelets cylindric, obtuse, with long browu 

 hairs ; gl. I terete, dorsally rounded, ripe polished dark brown, hispidulous towards 

 the tip only ; awn -2 in. long, base capillary. Pedicelled spikelets very narrow, 

 glabrous or ciliate with a few tubercled* based hairs, keels ciliolate. A very variable 

 grass, some states of which are with difficulty distinguishable from A. ciliata. The 

 earliest names of this plant are Themeda triandra, Forsk., and Anthistiria imberbis, 

 Retz. Hackel has abandoned both, substituting first Anthistiria vulgaris, and then 

 Themeda Forskahlii, on the ground that A. imberbis was perhaps not Forskahl's 

 T. triandra (why then call it Forskahlii ?) of which no type specimen exists, and 

 because triandra indicates a character of no individual value in grasses. In so 

 doing he overlooked Gmelin's * name of T. polygama (Syst. 149). Having regard 

 to the wide range of A. imberbis, from Australia to Africa, its presence in Arabia 

 might well be anticipated ; and that it is a native of that country is now proved 

 by Schweinfurth's finding Hackel's var. glauca"'m that country. This makes the 

 var. (which is local, and not Indian) the type of the species, and, if Forskahl's 

 name of Themeda is to be retained, necessitates a rearrangement of the varieties. 

 To me it appears most expedient to retain Retz's name which applies to the prevalent 

 form over the area of distribution as the specific one. 



The following is Hackel's arrangement of the Indian forms which may he 

 variously reduced or added to. It has the great merit of systematizing the 

 authorities fairly well. Of these I have kept up var. laxa as n species, following 

 Audersson, though not without doubts. Of others, as A. potystachya, I am 

 doubtful, judging from Roxburgh's description and its being an annual, I suspect it 

 may be a state of ciliata. Andersson included it under A. arguens, which it certainly 

 i not. 



* Stem 1-3 ft. Leaves 2-8 by T ^-| in. Panicle 6-12 in., nodes 2-3, lower 

 branches simple below. Gl. I of invol. spi&elets not winged or narrowly on one 

 side only. 



Var. vulgaris, Hack. 1. c. 660 ; spikelets with many tubercle-based hairs. A. 

 oiliata, Retz. I.e. (non Linn. /.) ; Lamk. III. t. 841, f. 2 ; Cat). Jc. t. 459; Roxb. 

 Fl. Ind. i. 247; Wight. Cat. n. 1708; Anderss. in Nov. Act. Sc. Upsal. ii. (1856), 

 in Walp. Ann. vi. 1057 ; Grah. Cat. Bomb. PL 239 ; Dalz. fy Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 

 304 ; Thw. Enum. PI. Zeyl. 366 (excl. var. major) ; Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 108 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austral, vii. 542. ? A. polystachya, Roxb. I. c. 248; Kunth Enum. PL 

 i. 481 ; Steud. I. c. 



Var. imberbis, Hack. 1. c. 661 ; invol. spikelets glabrous or very sparingly 

 hairy. A. ciliata var. imberbis, Nees in Linncea vii. (1832) 284. A. ciliata var. 



* Gmelin has, by oversight probably, assumed the first word of Forskahl's brief 

 diagnosis tp be his specific name. 



