124 Graminece. [Paspalum. 



the panicle whorled, and sometimes with distichous short branch- 

 lets ; spikelets §• in.; gl. I and II villously ciliate with erect hairs. 

 Panicum corymbosum, Roxb. ; Thw. Enum. 436. C. P. 3800. 



Tall, slender, 1. very narrow, glabrous, spikes few, 4-5 in., 

 spik'lets I in. distant, gl. I and II villously ciliate with very long 

 spreading hairs. C. P. 862 in part. 



Very slender, decumbent, creeping below, 1. 1-2 in., glabrous, 

 spikes 3, subdigitate, spikelets £$ in., shortly pedicelled, gl. I and 

 II villously ciliate with suberect hairs. C. P. 856. 



Gl. II with 3-5 dorsal veins and 2 or 3 submarginal. 



Gl. I and II equal or nearly so; stem rather stout ; 1. 4-6 by \ in., 

 rigid, striate, erect, glabrous ; spikes 3-4, 3-4 in., digitate, sessile ; 

 spikelets ^ in., shortly pedicelled, ovate, acuminate, shortly ciliate. 

 Panicum ciliare, Retz. ; Thw. 1. c. 358. C. P. 3976. 

 Gl. I shorter than II ; stem very slender, decumbent, creeping and 

 branched below ; 1. 2-3 in., flaccid, glabrous, spreading, spikes 3-5, 

 digitate, 3-6 in. ; spikelets | in., shortly pedicelled, oblong, acute,, 

 gl. I and II villous with long spreading hairs. C. P. 862 in part. 

 Abundant throughout the island up to 4000 ft. elevation. 

 All warm countries. 

 A pasture grass of which cattle are fond (Ferguson). 



4. P. long-iflorum, Retz. Obs. iv. 15 (1786). 



P.,filicn£me, Nees MSS., ex Thw. Enum. 358. Diqitaria longiflora? 

 Pers.; Moon, Cat. 8. C. P. 860. 

 FI. B. Ind. 17. 



Perennial ; stems creeping and rooting, sometimes many- 

 inches long and much branched, naked or leafy, sending up 

 very slender ascending glabrous branches 3-12 in. high and 

 leafy chiefly below the middle; 1. ^-4. in. long, up to \ in. 

 broad, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, fiat, membranous or in 

 short leaved states stiff and pungent, glabrous or sparsely 

 hairy on the back and sheaths; ped. very slender ; spikes 2-5, 

 terminal, sessile or subsessile, 1-3 in. long, erect or recurved, 

 very slender, rhachis narrowly winged, rather broader than 

 the spikelets, glabrous; spikelets minute, tVtV m -> solitary 

 or binate, very shortly pedicelled, oval, subacute, rather turgid, 

 pale, glabrous or subsilky with straight hairs ; gl. I 3-7-veined, 

 II as long but rather narrower, 3-5-veined, III ovate-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate, thinly coriaceous, pale brown, smooth, not 

 veined, palea with infiexed (not auricled) flaps. 



Common in the low country and inland. 



Tropical and subtropical region of the old world. 



Some specimens collected by Dr. Trimen in the Nitre Cave district, 

 Sept. 1888, are nearly 18 in. high, tufted, erect, with no appearance of 

 creeping stem ; the rhachis of the spike is very slender, and the spikelets 

 sometimes pedicelled. 



This species forms a large portion of the swards about Colombo, 

 creeping close to the ground and helping to bind the soil. When in 

 flower the spikes give a beautiful slate or blueish colour to the spots in 

 which it grows (Ferguson). 



