252 CLXXIII. GRAMINEJS. (J. D. Hooker.) [Sporo'bolut. 



The latter from Wallich is a very dwarf form, which is not uncommon in the 

 Himalaya. The Brasilian is Kunth's ft. major, is a much larger specimen, and 

 may or may not be specifically the same. S. ciliatus, Presl, to which S. piliferus 

 was referred by Munro, is a Panama plant, and is, I think, from the description 

 different. 



ft Panicle open, effuse. 



12. S. arablcus, Boiss. Diagn. PL Or. Ser. I. xiii. 47 ; perennial, 

 stems many from a woody stoloniferous base, leaves rigid narrow, panicle 

 pyramidal,, spikelets T V in. crowded subsessile at the ends of the branches, 



Nees ex Trin. in Mem. Acad. Petersb. Ser. VI. Sc. Nat. v. ii. (1840) 62 ; 

 Steud. Syn. Gram. 155. V. arabica, Steud. I. c. 241. 



PANJAB PLAINS; Royle, &c. WAZUEISTAN, ascending to 7000 ft., Stewart- 

 KOHILKUND, Duthie. SCIND, Stocks. DISTRIB. Arabia, Beluchistan. 



Woody base of the stem sometimes as thick as the middle finger, sending out 

 rigid often geniculate stolons, and stout or slender flowering branches 6-24 in. high, 

 Leaves 1-10 in. by $- in., narrowed from the rounded base to the tip, flat or con- 

 vohite, scaberulous above, finely ciliate-serrulate ; ligule 0. Panicle 2-6 in. long, 

 branches whorled, capillary, naked below. Spikelets subspicate on the branchlets, 

 oblong, pale; gl. II and III obtuse, 1-nerved ; palea as long as its gl. Grain sub- 

 globose. The synonymy of this plant is perplexing, owing to the double use of the 

 specific name pallidus, and to the fact of Vilfa being now regarded as a synonym of 

 Sporobolus. This name (pallidus) was applied by Nees in 1840 to the Arabian 

 plant described above, under Vilfa ; and by Lindley in 1848 to a very different 

 Australian one, under Sporobolus. Bentham (Fl. Austral, vii. 623) assuming that 

 Nees had referred his plant to Sporobolus, renamed Liudley's S. Lindleyi. Lastly, 

 Boissier, when he founded his S. arabicus, was not aware that it was Trinius's Vilfa, 

 pallida, which he erroneously cites in Fl. Orient., under Sporobolus pallidus, Trin. 

 In this case the proper course appears to me to be to retain the name Sp. pallidus, 

 Lindl., for the Australian plant, and Sp. arabicus, Boiss., for the Arabian and Indian. 



13. S. pulchellus, Br. Prodr. 170; annual, slender, leaves narrowly 

 lanceolate flat spinulosely serrulate, panicle oblong, branches whorled 

 capillary few- fid. towards the tips, spikelets ^o in- shortly pedicelled, 

 gl. 1 = ^ II obtuse, keels of both ciliate, II = III broadly ovate acuminate. 

 Kunih Revis. Gram. ii. 106, t. 123, Enum. PI. i. 215, Suppl. 171 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austral, vii.. 623. S. capillaris, Arn. ex Miq. Ann. Sot. Ind. II. 25 (non 

 Vilfa capillaris, Wt. & Arn.). Vilfa pulehella, Trin. Liss. i. 160. 



Aerostis pulchella, Roth. Nov. Sp. 41. Panicum montanum, Ham. ex 

 Wall. Cat. n. 8883. Sporobolus, Wall. I c. 



BEHAR, Wallich, Thomson. CHOTA NAGPORB, Clarke. DISTRIB. Australia. 



Stem 6 in.-2 ft., filiform or capillary, strict, erect from the base or nearly so, 

 distantly leafy. Leaves 2-5 in., gradually narrowed from the rounded base to the 

 finely acuminate tip, margins with tubercle-based cilia below ; ligule 0. Panicle 

 2-6 in., loose, whorls of many branches at regular intervals. Spikelets reddish- 

 brown ? glumes almost hyaline, obtuse. Grain globose ; pericarp loose, hyaline. 

 Bentham observes that Kuntb's figure is of an unusually narrow-leaved form with 

 the remarkable cilia not represented. 



14. S. coromandelianus, unth Revis. Gram. i. 381, Enum. 

 PI. i. 213 ; annual, leaves lanceolate flat spinulosely serrulate, panicle 

 pyramidal branches whorled capillary, spikelets -^ in., gl. 1 minute 



