129 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIO GARDEN, CALCUTTA, 
sheaths which occupy š of the length of the internode, walls 2 in. thick. Culm-sheaths 
4 to 6 in. long, purplish-green, hairy when young, smooth striate when old, ciliate 
on the edges, rounded and truncate at the top and bearing 2 small faicate, long-ciliate 
auricles ; imperfect blade subulate, acuminate, hairy within at the base; Пуше short, ciliate. 
Leaves linear-lanceolate, 4 to 10 in. long, 4 to 12 in. broad, the smaller ones most 
frequent; rounded at the base into а very short petiole; long-setaceous, scabrous- 
pointed above; smooth on both surfaces, except near the margins above where furnished 
with scabrous points, scabrous on one edge; main vein narrow, secondary veins 5 to 10 
pairs, intermediate 6 to 7; Jleaf-sheaths smooth, furnished at the top with two faleate 
auricles fringed with stiff deciduous bristles; Пуше very short. Inflorescence а short 
terminal or axillary spike or spicate panicle on leafy branchlets; fertile spikelets few, 
sub-solitary; sterile in heads, smaller; rachis smooth. Spikelets cylindric, sterile *5 to ‘7 
in. long; fertile 1 to 1:2 in. long, both acute glabrous; empty glumes 2 to З, many-veined, 
broadly ovate, acute, mucronate; flowering glume larger, sub-acute; palea convolute, not 
keeled, long-mucronate, membranaceous at the base. Lodicules many, about :3 to “5 in, 
long, oblanceolate or spathulate acute, glabrous, 1—7-nerved, persistent. Stamens many 
(15 to 18 or more), exserted; filament free, slender; anthers mucronate. Ovary oblong, 
surmounted by an enlarged perigynium containing the style which is cleft at the 
apex into 3 plumose stigmas. Caryopsis oblong, large, beak long. Веквнл, Van Rheede 
Hort. Mal. v. 119, tab. 60, (1685); Веквна Кнккри, Kunth Enum. 1. 434 (1822) 
(excluding syn. except Rheede); Ruprecht Bamb. 65 (1839); Munro in Trans. Linn, Soc. 
xxvi. 144; Beddome Flora Sylv. cexxiv. МЕТОСАХХА RHEEDII, Steudel Syn. 332, BAMBUSA 
SORIPTORIA, Schleus., fide Dillwyn in Index Hort. Malab. 
West Coast of India in Malabar, Cochin and Travancore. Collected by White, 
Johnstone (1836), Е. W. Bourdillon, ete. Said by the latter to be ‘found only on river 
* banks in the wetter districts of Travancore,” 
This species, although it is two centuries since it was first described and 
excellently figured by Van Rheede, is very little known indeed, and I have not been 
able to secure fertile spikelets for examination, so that the plate only shews sterile 
ones. Van Rheede says that the culms were used in his time for making arrows, 
baskets and writing pens, and the leaves as а specific for toothache. Bourdillon 
says it is used for mat-making, and that it flowers annually, not dying down after 
flowering. | 
VAR, sivagiriana. Spikelets rather larger, stamens many (up to 50 to 60), 
leaves much larger generally. Sivagiri Hills, 4,000 to 4,500 ft., also 
Pulney Hills, 1873 (Beddome). (It is possible that this should have 
been described as a species.) 
Pratt No. 107.—Ochlandra Rheedit, Bth. and Hook. fil. 1, leaf- and flower-branch 
bearing sterile spikelets; 2, culm and culm-sheath (young)—of natural size ; 3, spikelet ; 
4 & 5, empty glumes; 6, flowering glume; 7, palea; 8, lodicule; 9, fruit-bearing 
spikelet; 10 caryopsis—enlarged. (No. 9 is from Van Rheede’s figure; No. 2 is from 
Bourdillon's specimens; the rest after Johnstone's specimens.) 
Prarg No. 108.—Vaz. sivagiriana, 1, leaf- and fruit-branch; 2, part of flowering 
branch—of natural size; 3, spikelet; 4, 5, 6, empty glumes; 7, flowering glume; 8, 
