Panicum.] Graminece. 143 



1-4 in., rhachis slender, dorsally flattened, glabrous, smooth; 

 spikelets \-\ in., solitary, alternate, secund, sessile, suberect, 

 distant or loosely imbricate, quite glabrous, oval, subacute, 

 strongly dorsally compressed ; glume I about half as long as 

 III, nearly orbicular, hyaline, 5-7-veined, sides overlapping 

 under glume II; II and III subequal, broadly ovate, acute, 

 II 7-veined, III 5-veined, paleate, empty, palea much smaller 

 than the glume, IV sessile, oblong, obtuse, coriaceous, dor- 

 sally flattened, minutely striolate-punctulate, pale, base very 

 shortly thickened. 



Hotter parts of the Island; common. 



Throughout India, Malaya, China, Australia. 



A depauperate form or arrested state, collected by Dr. Trimen in the 

 dry region of Mannar, looks different from the ordinary state of the 

 plant, in having a nodose woody rootstock, smaller, broader leaves with 

 cartilaginous margins, and more closely imbricating spikelets. It is 

 analogous to depauperate form of P. flavidum from the same district. 



16. P. semiverticillatum, Rottler in Ainslie, Mat. Med. Hindost. 

 Ed. i. 219 (1813), name only. 



P. Petiverii, Thw. Enum. 359. C. P. 895. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 38. 



Stem 2-3 ft. or more, strict, erect, stiff, polished, simple 

 or sparingly branched, leafy, internodes long, nodes pubescent 

 or the lower glabrous; 1. 5-8 in., linear-lanceolate from a rather 

 narrowed rounded pubescent base, finely acuminate, thin, flat, 

 quite smooth, midrib very slender, veins obscure, margins 

 slightly scaberulous, sheaths 2-4 in., tomentose near and round 

 the mouth only, margins eciliate, ligule a pubescent ridge; 

 panicle long-peduncled, 4-8 in. long, of distant, long, spreading, 

 few-fid. spikes, rhachis very slender, angular, more or less 

 pubescent ; spikes alternate, secund, 2-3 in. long, rhachis 

 filiform, trigonous, angles glabrous or pubescent ; spikelets 

 3— £ in., usually distant, subsecund, solitary or binate, sub- 

 sessile or pedicelled, pedicel sometimes very long or spike 

 reduced to one spikelet on a capillary pedicel, oval, obtuse, 

 glabrous; glume I orbicular-ovate, about one-third the length 

 of III, hyaline, 5-veined, II and III subequal, obtuse or sub- 

 acute, II 7-veined, III 5-veined, paleate, empty, palea smaller 

 than the glume, IV obovate- or ovate-oblong, subacute or 

 apiculate, coriaceous, dorsally flattened, smooth or most 

 minutely granulate, margins rather broadly incurved, base 

 contracted into a rather long thick stipes. 



Central Province, Dambulla (Gardner and Thwaites). 



South Deccan. 



This plant is referred to Rottler's (undescribed) P. semiverticillatum 

 on the faith of specimens so named by Wight, which were collected at 

 Coimbatore, where, according to Ainslie, the plant is cultivated. It is 



