Ccelachne.'] gramine^:. 431 



In a ditch at Little Hongkong, WiJford. Also in Ceylon, the Indian Peninsula, Nepal, 

 Tavoy, and Australia. 



43. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. 



Spikelets several-flowered, flattened, awnless, numerous in a spreading or 

 compact panicle. Glumes keeled, very regularly distichous, obtuse or pointed, 

 but not awned, the 2 outer empty ones not longer, and often one or both 

 smaller than the others. Paleas prominently 2 -ribbed, often persistent after 

 the glumes have fallen. Axis of the spikelet not hairy, and very rarely arti- 

 culate. 



A considerable genus, or subgenus of Foa, widely diffused over the tropical and subtropical 

 regions of the globe, a few species spreading into more temperate climates, but neither so 

 far north or south, nor to so great elevations as l^oa proper. The latter genus differs chiefly 

 in the less flattened spikelets, with fewer flowers, the axis always articulate, and often (but 

 not always) bearing a tuft of hairs under each flower. One species extends to the adjoining 

 Chinese continent, but has not yet been found in Hongkong. 



Spikelets not 1 line long, very numerous in a narrow but spreading 2)a- 

 nicle. Axis of the spikelet articulate. 



Paleas glabrous 1. ^, tenella. 



Paleas ciliate with long spreading hairs 2. ^. plmnosa. 



Spikelets 2 to 4 lines long, the axis not articulate. 

 Spikelets all pedicellate. 



Spikelets linear, very loose, not -| line broad Z. E. pilosa. 



Spikelets ovate or ovate-oblong, 1^ lines broad, very closely im- 

 bricate 4. ^. miioloides. 



Spikelets linear-oblong, imbricate, f to 1 line broad. 



Leaves very hairy 5. ^. pilosissima. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Spikelets loosely pedicellate, f Hue broad. Flowering glumes 



obtuse Q. E. orientalis. 



Spikelets shortly pedicellate, I line broad. Flowering glumes 



tapering almost to a point ']. E. Brownei. 



Spikelets sessile ox nearly so. 



Spikelets solitary or in distinct clusters along the branches of a 



narrow or spreading panicle 8. ^. zeylanica. 



Spikelets crowded in a short spike-like panicle ^. E. geniculata. 



1. E. tenella, Beauv. An erect annual, 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves long 

 and narrow. Panicle narrow and slender, occupying the greater part of the 

 plant, with very numerous short capillary branches. Spikelets shortly pedi- 

 cellate, ovate, about \ line long, usually 3- or 4-flowered; the axis articulate 

 as in Foa. Flowering glumes obtuse, spreading. Palea not ciliate. — Foa 

 tenella, Linn. Spec. PI. 101 (except the reference to Plukenet). E. tenuis- 

 sima, Schrad. ; Nees, Fl. Afr. Aust. 410, with the synonyms there given. 

 U. aurea, Steud. Syn. Gram. 267. Sporobolus verticillatus, Nees in Kew 

 Journ. Bot. ii. 101. 



Hongkong, Hance ; also on the adjacent continent, in northern and eastern India, in the 

 Phihppines, and northward to Amoy. Nees appears to have mistaken Cuming's Philippine 

 Island specimen, n. 545, for a Sporobolus. Our specimens of that n. are certainly the E. 

 tenella, but the upper flowers of each spikelet fall readily off, lea-v ing very often only a sin- 

 gle one with the outer glumes, so as to appear 1-flowei'ed. 



2. E. plumosa, Linh ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 266. Stems slender, tufted 

 or decumbent at the base, ascending to 6 in. or 1 ft. Leaves very pointed, 



