138 Graminece. [Pam'cum. 



concealed within the top of glume III, scabrid, base with a 

 small short obconic stipes. 



Hotter parts of the Island; common under coco-nut trees, Colombo. 

 Fl. Nov.; spikelets pale green. Greedily eaten by cattle (Ferguson). 

 Also in Burma, the Malay, Pacific, and Mascarene Islds. 



8. P. oryzoides, Sw. Prod. Fl. hid. Occ. 23 (1788). 



P. zizanioides, H. B. K. Nov. Gen. and Sp. i. 100. P. Helopus, var. /3, 

 Munro ex Thw. Enum. 358. P. Helopus, var. glabra, Trim. Cat. Ceyl. 

 PI. 104. C. P. 3244. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 39 (P. latifolium, Sphalm.). H. B. K. 1. c. t. 28 (P. 

 zizanioides). 



Perennial, nearly glabrous; stem 12-24 i n -> slender, exten- 

 sively branched and creeping below, branches ascending, leafy, 

 internodes i^-i in., lower sending out solitary wiry roots, 

 nodes glabrous ; 1. 2-4 by \-\ in., narrowly lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, thin, flat, margins scaberulous, veins 3-5 pairs, base 

 cordate, rarely ciliate, sheaths shorter than the internodes, 

 margins ciliate, ligule obscure; panicle sessile on the upper- 

 most sheath, 1-3 in. long, contracted, subsimple, suberect, 

 rhachis rather stout, angular, nearly smooth, branches very 

 short, distant, erect, few-fid., axils sometimes penicillate ; 

 spikelets \-^ in., sessile, distant, oval, subacute, glabrous; 

 glumes herbaceous, I— III acute with thickened compressed 

 tips, I about one-fourth to one-third shorter than III, 

 I and II broadly ovate, 5 -veined, lateral pairs of veins 

 distant from the central vein, III broader than II, 7-veined, 

 empty, paleate, palea obiong, IV shortly stipitate, ovoid- 

 oval or oblong, acuminate, aristulate, dorsally very convex, 

 smooth, shining, brown, margins narrowly incurved ; grain 

 broadly oblong, plano-convex. 



Warmer parts of the Island ; abundant (Ferguson). Trincomalie 

 (Glenie), Kaltura (Moon). Spikelets green. 



Bengal, Burma, Malaya, Trop. Africa, and America. 



A very variable grass in India, sometimes very robust, 1. longer, panicles 

 much larger and longer, with larger spikelets than in Ceylon specimens. 

 It was only on examining the Peradeniya Herbarium that I recognised 

 this as a Ceylon species. There is, however, a single specimen in Herb. 

 Kew. collected by Walker, on the same sheet with P. prostraticm. By 

 an unfortunate oversight, this species is in Fl. B. Ind. referred to the 

 American P. latifolium, L., with a confused synonymy. It is the P. 

 latifolium of Linnes' herbarium, but not of his Sp. Plant. 



9. P. prostratum, Lamk. Illustr. i. 171 (1791). 

 Thw. Enum. 359. C. P. 965, 3236 (in part). 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 33. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 184, 185. 



Stem very slender, 4-18 in., ascending from a long creeping 

 base, often branched below, internodes 1-3 in., nodes pubescent; . 

 1. 1-2 by \~\ in., ovate-lanceolate from a cordate amplexicaul 



