150 Grantiiiese. \Panicunii 



27. *P. miliaceum, Linn. Sp. PL 58 (1753). Wal IVIeneii, 6\. 

 K.adai Eannai, 7". 



Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 105. Moon, Cat. 8 (not of Thwaites). 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 45. Host, Gram. Austriac. ii. t. 20. Duthie, Field and 

 Card. Crops Ind., t. 23. 



Annual, more or less clothed with long spreading soft 

 hairs; stems 2-4 ft., stout, tufted, leafy up to the panicle,, 

 often as thick as a swan's quill below, internodes clothed 

 with the l.-sheaths, nodes bearded; 1. 6-12 by J-i in., linear, 

 finely acuminate, flat, flaccid, base truncate or rounded, rarely 

 cordate, margin slightly scabrid, sheath naked or ciliate,. 

 deeply grooved, hairs often deflexed, ligule of long hairs ; 

 panicle 6-12 in., thyrsiform or oblong, nodding or decurved, 

 branches fascicled, long, filiform or capillary, naked for a 

 great part of their length, scabrid ; spikelets \-\ in., solitary, 

 erect, pedicelled, ovoid, acute, turgid, pedicel longer or shorter 

 than the spikelet ; glumes strongly veined, I about two-thirds- 

 of III, broadly ovate, acute, 5-7-veined, II and III subequal,. 

 broadly ovate, very convex, cuspidately acuminate, 7-1 1- 

 veined, 'III paleate, neuter, palea imperfect, IV shorter than 

 II and III, sessile, broadly oval or ovate, obtuse, crustaceous, 

 smooth, polished, brown, dorsally rounded, 5-7-veined, margins 

 and veins pale, palea crustaceous, convex; grain nearly orbi- 

 cular, plano-convex, white, embryo small. 



Hotter parts of the Island, cultivated only. 



Cultivated in all warm countries, especially in Africa. 



The P. miliaceum of Thwaites's Enum. is P. trypheron. Ferguson's. 

 P. miliaceum (Gram. Ceyl. 9) is probably a mixture of P. trypheron and 

 P. miliaceum. He s.ays of it, ' The wild form of this grass is not 

 uncommon, and is a low spreading plant. The other is extensively 

 cultivated by the natives as a millet, or fine grain.' He gives as native 

 names Wal-meneri and Meneri. P. miliaceum is the Chena of Bengal,, 

 where it yields a nutritious grain, but the straw is said to be heating as 

 a cattle fodder. 



28. *P. miliare, Lamk. III. Gen. 1. 173 (1791). Meneri, S~ 

 Chamai, T. 



P. menieri, Keen, ex Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr. 40. P. psilopodium, Trim. 

 Gram. Panic. 217. Thw. Enum. 360. C. P. 236. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 46. Duthie, Field and Gard. Crops N.W. India, t. 26;. 

 Fodd. Grass, t. xlvi. (P. psilopodium). 



Annual; stems tufted, erect, 1-2 ft. high, rather slender,, 

 simple or sparingly branched, leafy up to near the panicle, 

 internodes 2-4 in., nodes glabrous; 1. 12-18 by £-J in., erect,, 

 narrowly linear, finely acuminate, smooth, glabrous or very 

 sparsely hairy, base narrow, not cordate, margins smooth, 

 sheaths long, eciliate, sometimes with a few tubercle-based 

 hairs, ligule a ridge with a few hairs; panicle oblong, 2-10 in.„ 

 inclined, rhachis filiform, quite smooth, branches distant, binate 



