148 Graminece. \Panicmn. 



acute, thinly coriaceous, dorsally convex, smooth", shining,, 

 white, margins strongly incurved, grain oblong, pale reddish. 

 Var. forachiatum, Hook. f. 



Stem 2-3 ft., as stout as a pigeon's quill, geniculately 

 branching, branches divaricate, elongate, internodes 2-3 in.; 

 1. spreading, 6 by \ in. ; spiciform panicle 2J-3 in. 



Abundant throughout the hotter parts of the Island. Spikelets green 

 or purplish. Var. brachiatum, Peradeniya (Thwaites). 



Tropical Africa. 



An extremely variable grass, the dwarf tufted form with short panicle 

 only \-^ long on a long peduncle, and 1. at the base of the stem, con- 

 trasting with the tall, more leafy specimens with long panicle. The 

 leaves are hairy or even villous in some Indian forms. 



24. P. myosuroides, Br. Prod. 189 (18 10). 



Kunth, Enum. PI. i. 77. P. indicum (in part), Thw. Enum. 361. P. 

 curvatwn, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 286 (non Linn.). C. P. 909. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 42. 



Stem erect or very shortly creeping below, 2-3 ft. high,, 

 rather stout, leafy, internodes 3-5 in. ; 1. very narrowly linear, 

 6-8 by tV~(J i n -> finely acuminate, base narrow, margins smooth, 

 sheath 2-4 in., margins naked, ligule o; panicle 4-6 in., very 

 narrow, spiciform, ^ in. diam., strict, erect, rhachis terete, 

 smooth ; spikelets tV-tV in -> densely crowded in small fascicles, 

 very shortly pedicelled, subglobose, quite smooth; glumes very 

 strongly veined, I nearly half as long as III, ovate, 3-veined, 

 II and III subequal, ovate, obtuse, 9-veined, III broadest, 

 very convex, paleate, empty, IV much smaller than III, 

 ovate-oblong, acute, quite smooth, white, dorsally convex, 

 margins strongly involute. 



Caltura (Macae); Peradeniya (Thwaites). 



Trop. Asia, Africa, Australia. 



I have described this species from two specimens in Herb. Peraden. 

 They differ from the ordinary Indian state of the plant in the strict, 

 erect, not gracefullv curving inflorescence. The species is doubtfully 

 distinct from P. indicum. 



25. P. curvatum, Linn. Syst. Nat. Ed. xii. 732 (1767). 

 Thw. Enum. 360. Moon, Cat. 8. C. P. 3240. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 42. Kunth, Revis. Gram. t. 107 (P. coryophoruvi). 



Stem 10-18 in., very slender, inclined or prostrate below, 

 branched, remotely leafy, branches spreading, internodes 

 1-2 in., nodes glabrous; 1. 2-3 by \-\ in., spreading, lirjear- 

 lanceolate, finely acuminate, flat, membranous, base narrow, 

 rounded, glabrous or sparsely hairy above, margins sub- 

 scaberulous, sheaths 1-3 in., margins glabrous, glabrous or 

 ciliolate ligule; panicle \\-^\ in., deltoid, erect, very loosely 

 branched, rhachis filiform, quite smooth, branches solitary 



