128 Graminece. [isachne. 



minate, coriaceous, striate, smooth, glabrous, flat, 5-7-veined, 

 margins hardly cartilaginous, base narrow, obtuse, sheath 

 1-2 in., margins glabrous or ciliate, ligule of a few hairs; 

 panicle 3-6 in., ovate-oblong, quite glabrous, rhachis and 

 branches angular, branches alternate, lower up to 3 in. long, 

 naked below, branchlets short ; spikelets ^V~t? m -> pedicel 

 long or short, erect, purplish or green ; glumes I and II 

 orbicular, thin, veins obscure, III much longer than I and II, 

 orbicular, subacute, thin, male, veins o, palea oblong, obtuse, 

 stam. very large, IV stipitate, hemispheric, coriaceous, ob- 

 scurely hispid or smooth, very dark, coriaceous, palea coria- 

 ceous ; grain small, orbicular, compressed. 



Uva district (Thwaites), Abbotsford, Dambulla (Ferguson). Spikelets 

 pale. 



Endemic. 



4. I. australis, R. Br. Prod. 196 (1 810). 



Thw. Enum. 361 (excl. some syn. and var.). C. P. 880. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 24. Buchan., Grasses N. Zeald. t. 12. 



Stem slender, erect or ascending from a creeping root- 

 stock', 8-18 in. high, leafy, smooth, branched below, nodes 

 glabrous; 1. 1-2 in., linear-lanceolate, acuminate, many-veined 

 and striate, flat, scaberulous on both surfaces, base rounded, 

 margins not or very narrowly cartilaginous, glabrous or ciliate 

 towards the base with long hairs, sheath \-\\ in., margins 

 above the middle densely ciliate with long hairs, ligule a ridge 

 of long, slender, erect, white hairs ; panicle i-i^ in. long, 

 ovoid, branches alternate, flexuous, erect or spreading, usually 

 divided, rhachis and branches angular, smooth ; spikelets 

 y-g-yVin., globose, sessile or pedicelled, green or violet, pedicels 

 sometimes \ in., capillary ; glumes I and II hemispheric, 

 7- veined, glabrous or with a few dorsal bristles, III rather 

 longer, oblong, obtuse, veinless, male, IV hemispheric, coria- 

 ceous, villous, palea glabrous. 



Var. effusa, Trim. Syst. Cat. Ceyl. PL 104. Fl. B. Ind. 1. c. 25. 



Stem 1-2 ft., 1. 2-3! in., lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 base narrower, panicle 3-5 in., more effuse, pedicels longer. 



Abundant in damp and swampy places, often immersed in water. 

 Var. effusa, in drier places, Peradeniya Garden, &c. — Spikelets green 

 or coloured. 



India, Australia, N. Zealand. 



Collected in Ceylon by Hermann in 1660-1667. The Ceylon speci- 

 mens vary much in the foliage but are remarkably constant as to the 

 spikelets. 



5. I. miliacea, Roth. Nov. PL Sp. 58 (1821). 



/. meneritana, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. iii. 185 (excl. syn.). Trim, in 



