136 Graminece. [Panicum. 



sessile, secund, suberect or spreading, rhachis stout, angular, 

 much narrower than the spikelet, ciliate with scattered white 

 bristles; spikelets secund, densely packed in 3-5 series, - t V~l m « 

 long (excl. the awn), sessile, turgidly ovoid, hispid with un- 

 equal, often tubercle-based bristles ; glume I one-third to 

 one-half of III, orbicular, abruptly acuminate, 5-veined, II 

 and III subequal, orbicular-ovate, II acuminate or shortly 

 awned, 3-7-veined, often interruptedly, III paleate, male or 

 neuter, abruptly narrowed into a stout scabrid awn ^-| in. long, 

 IV from orbicular to broadly oblong, obtuse or cuspidate, 

 coriaceous, pale, shining; grain ovoid, acute, smooth. 



Var. j3, frumentaceum, Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PL 104. Fl. B. Ind. vii. 

 31. P anicum frumentaceum, Roxb., Fl. Ind. i. 304. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. 

 t. 164. 



Tall, robust, spikes thickened, often incurved, sometimes 

 branched and corymbosely panicled, spikelets not awned, 

 otherwise as in P. Crus-galli. 



Var. y, stagninum, Trim, in Herb. Perad. P. stagninum. Retz. 

 Obs. v. ,17. Moon, Cat. 8. Host, Gram. Austriac. iii. t. 51. 



Panicle drooping, with long drooping spikes, crinite with 

 the very long awns of the spikelets. 



Hotter parts of the Island; very common. Var. (3, cult. Abbotsford, 

 Dambulla (Ferguson 1 ; var. 7, swamps. Spikes green or purplish. 



All hot countries. Var. frumentaceum cult. only. 



An examination of a large series of Indian specimens exhibits very 

 great variation in P. Crus-galli, which passes imperceptibly into P. 

 colonum, and renders it doubtful to which of the two var. P. frumen- 

 taceum is referable. There is in Herb. Peraden. a specimen of var. 

 frumentaceum ticketed No. 192, Kolichudan pulla, Mannar (Crawford), 

 with glume III coriaceous and polished like glume IV. 



Watt (Diet, of Econ. Prod, of India) describes the var. frumentaceum 

 as the quickest growing of all millets, being harvested in some localities 

 within six weeks of being sown. The grain is consumed chiefly by the 

 poorer classes of India. The straw is an excellent cattle fodder. 



6. P. colonum, Linn. Syst. Ed. x. 870. 



Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PL 104. Moon, Cat. 8. P. Crus-galli, var. [3, minor, 

 Thw. Enum. 359. C. P. 901. 



FL B. Ind. vii. 32. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 160. Jacq. Eclog. t. 32. 



Annual; stem 1-2 ft., slender, erect or decumbent and 

 sometimes creeping below, internodes long, nodes glabrous 

 or puberulous; 1. 4-8 in., narrowly lanceolate or linear, acu- 

 minate, flat, glabrous, margins scaberulous, midrib slender, 

 sheath up to 6 in. long, slender, glabrous, ligule o or an obscure 

 ridge ; panicle 3-5 in., inclined, contracted, rhachis slender, 

 smooth or scaberulous, sharply angled, nodes not or hardly 



