Dimeria.] gtiamine.-e. 419 



17. DIMERIA, Br. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, almost sessile, inserted singly on the alternate notches 

 of slender unilateral spikes, which are either solitary or more frequently 2 or 

 3 together on a terminal peduncle ; the rhachis not articulate, and a tuft of 

 short hairs under each spikelet. Outer empty glumes 2, linear, stiff, keeled, 

 not awned ; third empty glume smaller, thin and transparent, not awned ; 

 flowering glume thin and transparent, notched or 2-lobed with an interme- 

 diate awn, twisted at the base, and bent back at or below the middle. Palea 

 minute or none. Seed free, but enclosed in the outer glumes. 



A small tropical Asiatic or Australian genus. 



1. D. fuscescens, Trin. ; Steiid. Syn. Gram. 413. Stems erect, rather 

 slender, 1 to 1|^ ft. high. Leaves narrow, erect, veiy pointed, fringed with 

 long hairs, the sheaths somewhat flattened and distichous. Spikes 2 or rarely 

 3 together, digitate at the summit of a slender peduncle, each \\ to 2 in. 

 long. Pedicels short and flat. Outer glumes fringed with hairs on the keel 

 and edges. Inner glumes also ciliate. Awn about 4 lines long. Palea 

 usually deficient. 



Hongkong, Hance. On the Chinese continent to Amoy, in Nepal and in Ceylon. 



18. IMPERATA, Cyr. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, awnless, mostly pedicellate, in a dense cylindrical 

 spike-like panicle, the rhachis not articidate. Glumes all thin and transpa- 

 rent, 2 outer empty ones keeled, covered Avith very long silky hairs, third also 

 empty, smaller, without haii's, flowering glume and palea still shorter, often 

 jagged at the top. Grain free, enclosed in the outer glumes. 



A very smaU genus, widely diffused over the warmer regions of the globe. 



1. I. arundinacea, Cjjr. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 477, var. Kcenigii. A stiff 

 erect perennial, 1 to 2 ft. high, glabrous except a tuft of hairs at the nodes. 

 Leaves erect, narrow, often longer than the stem. Spike-like panicle 3 to 5 

 in, long, silvery-white with the long silky hairs of the glumes, concealing the 

 spikelets. Spikelets in this variety usually all pedicellate, the outer glumes 

 about 1^ lines long, and often slightly coloured. — /. Kcenigii, Beq,uv. 



Common in Hongkong, Champion and others. Frequent in tropical Asia and Africa. The 

 form originally described with glabrous nodes and rather larger spikelets, many of them 

 sessile, is equally abundant in the Mediterranean region and in some parts of tropical and 

 northern America. The two varieties run too much mto each other to be separable as 

 species. 



19. SACCHARUM, Linn. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, awnless, surrounded by long silky hairs, in pairs, both 

 sessile or 1 pedicellate along the branches of a large panicle, the rhachis arti- 

 culate at each pair. Two outer empty glumes keeled, thin but rather stift', 

 third empty glume, flowering-glume, and palea, all smaller and very thin and 

 transparent. 



A small Asiatic or African tropical or subtropical genus. 



1. S. oiHcinaruxn, Linn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 474. Stems firm, erect, 6 

 to 12 ft. high. Leaves long, flat, 1 in. broad or more, very rough at the 



^2 E 2 



