122 Graminecz. [Paspalum. 



(up to \ in.) and concave, herbaceous, margins ciliolate ; 

 spikelets t%-\ in. diam., closely imbricate in 2-3-series, sessile 

 or shortly pedicelled, from nearly orbicular to subovoid, obtuse 

 or subacute, biconvex, glabrous, very rarely sparsely hairy, 

 drying brown; glumes 3, I and II equal and similar, plano- 

 convex, membranous, closely investing III, which is thickly 

 coriaceous, with thickened rounded incurved margins all round, 

 minutely striolate, shining, palea orbicular, tumid, thickly 

 coriaceous like gl. Ill, dorsally convex, ventrally strongly 

 inflexed below the middle and forming 2 broad membranous 

 auricles that embrace the grain ; stigmas short, purple ; grain 

 biconvex, embryo large. 



Thwaites, following Kunth, gives 3 varieties as occurring in Ceylon. 

 The characters of these as represented by specimens named by him in 

 the Perdeniya Herbarium are as follows: — 



Var. a. Kunth, Enum. PI. i. 53. Spikes 2-6 in. long, rhachis broad ; 

 spikelets biseriate, subsessile, ^j-| in. diam. ; glumes I and II 5-8-veined, 

 II often pitted towards the margins. P. frumentaceum, Rottb. ex Rcem. 

 and Sch. Syst. ii. 296. P. Kora, Willd. Sp. PI. i. 332. C. P. 863. 



Var. /3. Kunth, 1. c. Spikes 1-2^ in., rhachis narrow ; spikelets 

 biseriate, iV" V2 ' n - diam. C. P. 865. 



Var. y. Kunth, 1. c. Spikes 1-2 in., spikelets 2-3-seriate on short 

 curved puberulous pedicels ; glumes I and II glabrous or puberulous, 

 3-veined. C. P. 2434. 



Hotter parts of the island, very abundant, indigenous up to Nuwara 

 Eliya. Var. a cultivated. 



All warm < ountries. 



Ferguson (Gramin. 3) observes that there are five varieties of this 

 plant cultivated in Ceylon, with different Sinhalese names. One variety, 

 called Mat amu (amu = inebriating) gives a poisonous quality to the water 

 in which the grain is boiled. Ainslie (in his Mat. Med. Hindost.) says of 

 a variety called Serraku Warugu, T., that if not dressed in a peculiar 

 manner it is said to produce vertigo and nausea In Dalzell and Gibson's 

 Flora of Bombay, it is stated that in the hill-lands of the Concan large 

 numbers of natives may be seen affected with temporary insanity and 

 spasms from eating the seeds of a variety there called Hurruk. 



2. P. conjug-atum, Berg, in Act. Helvet. vii. 129 (1772). 



Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 104. Digitaria distachya, Moon, Cat. 8. C. P. 3923. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 11. Berg. 1. c. t. 8. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 102. 



Annual or perennial, creeping below and stoloniferous ; 

 stolons elongate, stout, rooting at the nodes and sending up 

 stout or slender, leafy, simple or branched, glabrous stems 

 1-2 ft. high ; 1. 2-6 by \-\ in., linear- lanceolate, acute or 

 acuminate, flat, membranous, margins ciliate, cilia long 

 towards the narrowed or rounded base, midrib slender, sheath 

 shorter than the blade, loose, compressed, mouth and upper 

 margins ciliate, and with a pubescent ridge dorsally at the 

 junction with the blade, ligule o; ped. very slender; spikes 2, 

 terminal, 3-4 in., very shortly pedicelled, pedicel pubescent, 



