294 



of this, with the involucels of a reddish colour, and the fertile 

 floret transversely and deeply wrinkled and shining, is one of the 

 commonest Grasses on the table-land of Mahableshwur, where it 

 is called " Kolara." 



2. S VERTICILLATA, Beauv. Agrost. 51. Calms below resting 

 on the ground and striking root, above weak, leaning to one side, 

 smooth ; leaves sheathing, linear-lanceolate, a little downy, margins 

 hispid ; mouths of the sheaths hairy ; spikes cylindric, compound 

 subverticelled ; bristles of the involucels reversely hispid ; herma- 

 phrodite florets rather smooth. Syn. Panicum verticillatum, Linn, 

 sp. 82; Pennisetum verticillatum, Br. Prod, i, 195. Generally 

 found about rubbish heaps. 



8. PENNISETUM, Beauv. 



1. P AUREUM, Link. Hort. i, 215. Culm 2 feet high, and with 

 the basis of the leaves much compressed ; leaves much longer 

 than the culm, the margins at the base ciliated ; spike 2 to 3 inches 

 long, imbricated on all sides; bristles of the involucre rough, 

 elongated, rigid, of a yellowish colour. This plant, though com- 

 mon all over the Deccan, is almost unknown to botanists. Native 

 name " Mooltom." 



9. CENCHRUS, Linn. 



1. C RAMOSISSIMUS, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. v, 51. Root fibrous 

 and bulbous ; culm branched above, subscandent, smooth, round ; 

 leaves flat, narrow, acuminated to a very fine point, rough on the 

 inner surface, a little hairy ; spikes terminal, solitary on the sub- 

 corymbose branches of the culm, cylmdric-oblong, 2 inches in 

 length ; spikelets 2 to 4 in each involucre, ovate, acute, sessile, 2- 

 flowered ; involucre hard, coriaceous, 10 to 12-divided; divisions 

 rigid, lanceolate-acute, unequal, smooth, but bearded at the base, 

 on the inside as long as the spikelets. A weak Grass, growing in 

 hedges in Gujarat; a native also of Egypt. 



2. C BIFLORUS, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 2o3. Culms branched from 

 the base, spreading, 1 to 1 \ foot long ; leaves elongated, slender, 

 roughish ; mouths of the sheaths a little hairy ; spikes terminal, 

 solitary, cylindric, 3 to 4 inches long, involucres with only 2 spike- 

 lets, the segments subulate, hooked, hairy within, barbed and pun- 

 gent. Sandy sea-shores, Domus, Gogo, &c. One of the most 

 troublesome of Grasses. The hooked and bristly involucres fall off 

 in the autumn at the least touch, stick to ones clothes like burs, 

 and occasion a painful itching. 



