Sporobolus.'] CLXXIII. GRAMINEJE. (J. D. Hooker.) 249 



longer ovate acuminate, grain broadly obliquely obcordate. Sporobolus, 

 Wall. Gat. n. 3769 A. 



BEHAR ; Eajmahal Hills, Wallich. PEGU, Kurz. CEYLON; between Trinco- 

 malee and Kantalla, Ferguson. 



Perennial ? Stem 3-4 ft., as thick as a crow-quill, strict, sparingly leafy. 

 Leaves 1-2 ft. by - in., quite smooth ; upper sheaths very long ; ligule 0. Panicle 

 12-18 in. by 4-5 broad, branches opposite and whorled, branchlets flowering towards 

 the tips. Spikelets pale brown; gls. II and III faintly 1-nerved; palea oblong, 

 truncate, as long as its gl. Stamens 3. Habit of S. minutiflorus, but spikelets 

 very different. 



5. S. ioclados, Nees Fl. Afr. Austral. 161 ; leaves snort, panicle 

 oblong or subpyramidal effuse, branches capillary, spikelets yV~rV i' 

 scattered, gl. I lanceolate = \ III, II = f III oblong-lanceolate obtuse, 

 grain linear-oblong truncate. Yilfa ioclados, Nees ex Trin. in Mem. 

 Acad. Petersb. Ser. VI. Sc. Nat. v. II. (1840) 65. 



SCIND, Stocks. DISTBIB. S. Africa. 



Stems 10-18 in., densely tufted, rather stout. Leaves 2-3 in., narrow, densely 

 tufted, sheath short; lignle obscure. Panicle 3-7 in., branches opposite and 

 alternate, spreading. Spikelets oblong, pale. A very elegant grass. 



** Glume I as long as III or nearly so. Panicle contracted. 



6. S. virg-inlcus, Kunth Revis. Gram. i. 67, Enum. PL i. 210, 

 Suppl. 167 ; stems erect from a decumbent woody creeping base, leaves 

 strict distichous convolute pungent, panicle elongate narrow interrupted 

 branches very short, sp:kelets yV-yV i n - subsessile crowded, gls. I and II 

 oblong-lanceolate acute, I shorter than II, grain broadly obovoid. Trim. 

 Gat. Ceyl. PL 108 ; Benth FL Austral, vii. 621 ; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 

 533. S. littoralis, Kunth 1. 1. c.c. 68, 213. Vilfa barbata, Beauv. Agrost. 

 16. Y. littoralis, Beauv. I. c. ; Sttpud. Syn. Gram. 162. V. rnurina, Sieb. 

 ex Steud. I. c. 157. Y. orientalis, Wight Gat. n. 1745 (in part}. Y. vir- 

 ginica, Beauv. 1. c. ; Trin. Diss. i. 155 ; Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 48 ; Steud. I. c. 157 ; 

 Baker Fl. Maurit. 449. Agrostis barbata, Pers. Syn. i. 75. A. littoralis, 

 Lamk. Illusir. 161. A. pungens, Pursh Fl. Am. Sept. 64. A. virginica, 

 Linn. Sp. PL 63 ; Labill. PL Nov. Holl. i. 20, t. 23. Podosemum vir- 

 ginicum, Link Enum. Hort. Berol. i. 85. Calotheca sabulosa, Steud. in 

 Flora, xii. (1829), II. 488. Crypsis maritima, Munro ex Macowan in Cape 

 Monthly Mag. N.S. iii. (1871), Suppl. 7. 



CEYLON; common on the shores, Heyne? Trimen. DISTEIB. Westwd. to tropical 

 Africa and America ; eastwd. to Australia. 



Perennial. Stem as thick as a duck's quill, branched, hard and often tortuous 

 at the base, then erect or ascending 6-10 in. high. Leaves close-set, erecto- patent, 

 1-3 in. long or more, narrow and almost terete from the involute margins, very 

 pale, glabrous or scaberulous above, striate ; sheaths terete, short or long; ligule 

 of long soft hairs. Panicle 1-4 in., subspiciform, very pale, narrow but more or 

 less interrupted. Spikelets very shortly pedicelled ; gls. all 1-nerved, keels glabrous 

 or obscurely scabrid towards the tip ; palea oblong, narrowly truncate. Grain with 

 the pericarp loosened if moistened. Trinius' figure represents gl. I as shorter than 

 in the Ceylon specimens and others that I have examined. It is remarkable that 

 this grass should have no certain habitat on the shores of continental India. There 

 is a specimen from Heyne in Kottler's herbarium, marked " Nawiilus, 21st Aug., 

 1794," a word which sounds more Cingalese than Indian. There is another in 

 Wight's herbarium, where 8. orientalis, spicatus, tremulus and virginicus are all 

 fastened on the same sheet as No. 1745. S. pungens, Kunth, of the Mediterranean 



