366 CLXXIII. GRAMINEJJ. (J. D. Hooker.) [Lepturus. 



flexnous, flattened, margins ciliate with long strict hairs ; sheath very short ; ligule 

 minute, 2-auricled. Spikes 2-3 in., as long as the filiform pedicels and hardly 

 stouter, strict, erect. Spikelets -jL-^ in. 2-fld., both fl. bisexual (always ?) ; gl. I 

 sunk in the hollow of the rachis, obliquely ovate, 1-nerved, hyaline ; II linear-oblong, 

 acute, coriaceous, dorsally smooth, convex with a broad undefined midrib ; III 

 hyaline, distinctly 3-nerved, oblong, truncate, callus penicillate; palea hyaline, 

 keels smooth ; IV narrower than III ; rachilla slender, penicillate. Lodicules minute. 

 Anthers very short ; filaments long. Ovary short ; styles short, bases remote, 

 divergent. There is in Roxburgh's unedited Icones an excellent drawing of a small 

 state of this plant, of which I have no specimen but Mr. Duthie's ; it is no doubt 

 overlooked from its small size and habit. 



127. OROPETIUm, Trin. 



A very small densely tufted erect annual. Leaves filiform. Spikelets 

 very minute, 1-fld., halt' immersed in the alternating distichous cavities of 

 the rachis of a simple slender curved inarticulate spike ; rachilla bearded. 

 Glumes I and II empty, persistent, I very minute, hyaline; II linear- 

 lanceolate, rigid, recurved in fruit, tip obtuse or emarginate; III shorter, 

 broader, hyaline, obtuse or truncate, 1-nerved; palea narrow, keels smooth. 

 Lodicules ? Stamens 3. Styles short. Grain oblong, terete, free. 



Nardus stricfa, Linn., is, according to Stewart, " Panjab Plants," p. 257, a native 

 of the Trans-Iodus district, and at a considerable elevation in the Jheluin basin. 

 This is no doubt an error. Boissier gives as its Eastern limit, the Caucasus. 



O. Thomaeum, Trin. Fund. Agrost. 98, t. 3 ; Kunth JSnum. PI. i. 

 464, Suppl. 375 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 403 ; Thw. Enum. PI. Ze.yl. 363 ; 

 Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 110; Wall. Cat. n. 8869; Wight Cat. n. 1727; 

 Duthie Grass. N.W. Ind. 45, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 69. Rottboellia 

 Thomsea, Koenig in Naturf. xxiii. (1788) 210; Willd. Sp. PI. i. 464; Roxb. 

 PI. Corom.ii.17, t. 133, Fl. Ind. i. 357; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 300. 

 E. pilosa, Willd. I. c. 465. Nardus Thomaea, Linn. f. Suppl. 105 ; Sm. in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. i. 116. 



PLAINS OF INDIA ; from the Panjab to Bengal, Burma, and southward in the 

 WESTERN PENINSULA. CEYLON, Gardner. 



Whole plant 2-3 in. high, forming hard tufts, stems compressed. Leaves -1 in., 

 erect, margins ciliate with long strict hairs ; sheath short, open ; ligule lacerate, not 

 auricled. Spikes 1-1^ in., about -^ in. diam., solitary or fascicled on very short 

 branches, curved ; rachis undulating, green, tetragonous, with a broad central nerve 

 on the flat faces. Spikelets -^ in., closely appressed to the. rachis in the hollow of 

 which the minute gl. I is sunk; gl. II slightly convex with a broad thickened 

 centre; III semicircular in profile, excessively membranous, keel most minutely 

 scabrid. 



128. TRITICUBI, Linn. 



Annual 6r biennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets few-fld., tumid, 

 sessile, distichously spicate, solitary, with their sides opposite cavities in 

 the articulate or inarticulate rachis ; upper fl. male or neuter. Glumes 

 rigid, often unequal-sided, I and II empty, obtuse or shortly awued, few- 

 nerved, persistent ; flg. gb. oblong or ventricose, dorsally rounded or keeled 

 above, awnless or 1-3-awned, 5-9-nerved, lateral nerves not conniving with 

 the central; keels of palea ciliate. Lodicules entire, ciliate. Stamens 3. 

 Styles very short. Grain, grooved ventrally, often hairy, free or adherent 

 to the palea. Species about 10, Oriental and Eastern Asiatic. 



