710 A NEW SPKCIES OF BRIOCHLOA, 



(botli much involute), free, hardened, glassy, ovoid, not dorsally 

 flattened. Embryo one-third the length of the grain. Hilum basal, 

 punctiform. 



A distinct species, which may eventually, in conjunction with 

 other ambiguous species, be incorporated as a separate genus. 



In the Fl. Austr.,(vii., p. 459) Bentham, describing the genus 

 Paspalum, gives the characters : "Spikelets . . . not awned, not cal- 

 lous at the base." In a footnote to the description of the genus 

 Eriochloa, IIooker,(Fl. Brit. Ind., vii., p. 20) says: "The thickened 

 base of the spikelet alone distinguishes Eriochloa from Paspalum." 

 This decision appears to be somewhat arbitrary, as in the present 

 instance the herbaceous seven-nerved outer glumes and the hardened 

 glassy grain, which is not dorsally flattened, are characteristic of 

 Panicum rather than Paspalum; the inflorescence also, "a character 

 admitted as generic in most GramineaB,"( Bentham, Fl. Austr., vii,, 

 p. 463) approaches Panicum, being similar to that of P, margina- 

 tum, R,Br,, var. strictum, a plant to which it has a superficial re- 

 semblance in the field. Most modern authors include, under the 

 genus Panicum, only those species which have four glumes, an 

 exception being a form of P. sanguinale Linn., in which the small, 

 outer glume is occasionally deficient. In P. helopus Trin., we find 

 the awn on the flowering glume as in Eriochloa, but the presence 

 of the small outer glume proclaims it a true Panicum. 



The characters, glumes three, awn on the flowering glume, and 

 the somewhat composite inflorescence, appear to be a sufficient 

 warrant for placing this grass provisionally in the genus Erioch- 

 loa. Its nearest ally may be found in E. annulata Kunth, the 

 inflorescence in some forms of this species being reduced to an 

 interrupted spike. 



The Australian species of Eriochloa given in the Fl, Austr., are 

 E. punctata Hamilt., and E. annulata Kunth, with the var. acro- 

 tricha Benth. Both these species are placed under E. polystachya 

 H.B.K., by Hooker, Fl. Brit. Ind., (vii., 20). 



In the Queensland Agricultural Journal (i., 234), Bailey de- 

 scribes a decumbent species of Eriochloa (E. decumhens Bail.) 

 from Hammond Island, Torres Straits. He mentions, in a note. 



