142 Graminecz. {Panicum. 



Common in the hotter parts of the Island. 

 Also in Bengal and the Deccan. 



Very closely allied to P. prostratum, but a much larger plant, with 

 larger spikelets, and a very different glume I. 



14. P. javanicum, Poir. Encycl. Suppl. iv. t. 274 (1816). 



P. hirsnttim, Keen, ex Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 300. P. Helopus, Trin. ex 

 Spreng. N. Entdeck. ii. 84. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 35 (not given for Ceylon). Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 183 

 (P. Helopus). 



Annual ; stem 1-2 ft., decumbent and rooting below, 

 geniculately ascending, branching upwards, leafy, nodes 

 pubescent ; 1. 1-5 by \-% in., ovate-lanceolate from a rounded 

 cordate or amplexicaul base, acuminate, softly hairy on both 

 surfaces, margins scaberulous, midrib slender, veins several pairs, 

 sheath loose, softly hairy, mouth villous, iigule a soft beard ; 

 panicle erect, of 6-12 subsecund rather distant many-fid. 

 spikes, rhachis of spike dorsally compressed, ventrally pitted 

 opposite the spikelets, narrow, glabrous or pubescent; spike- 

 lets \-\ in. long, secund, biseriate, loosely imbricate, very 

 shortly pedicelled, ovoid, acute, pubescent tomentose or 

 villous, pedicels pubescent and with a few long silky hairs ; 

 glume I not half as long as III, broadly ovate, acute or 

 obtuse, 3-5 -veined, II and III subequal, thin, II ovate, 

 acute, 7-veined, III broader, 5-veined, paleate, empty or 

 male, IV broadly ovate or oblong, rugulose, tip rounded, 

 hispid, abruptly awned, awn scabrid, concealed by the glumes, 

 paleas of III and IV nearly as long as the glumes. 



Colombo (Ferguson). 



Throughout the plains of India. Tropics generally. 



The Ceylon specimens are fragmentary but very characteristic, the 

 spikelets are densely tomentose and villous with long hairs towards the 

 margins of glumes II and III. It is a very common Indian grass in 

 the borders of cultivated land and in pastures ; its rarity in Ceylon is 

 hence noteworthy. The awned glume IV distinguishes it at once from P. 

 ramosum. 



15. P. distachyum, Linn. Mant. i. 138 (1771). 

 Thw. Enum. 359. C. P. 904. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. yj. Lamk. 111. t. 43, f. 2. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 186 

 (P. subquadriparum). 



Stem 6 in.-2 ft., stout or slender, creeping and straggling 

 below, sparingly branched, leafy, internodes long, nodes 

 glabrous ; 1. 2-6 by \-\ in., linear from a rounded or sub- 

 cordate naked or subciliate base, acuminate, thin, flat, 

 smooth, margins scaberulous, midrib very slender, veins 

 obscure, sheath 1-3 in., glabrous or margins subciliate, Iigule 

 a thickened ridge; panicle of 2-6 very distant spreading 

 secund spikes, erect, rhachis slender, angular, smooth; spikes 



