Panicum.] Grammeee. 151 



or solitary, suberect, lowest 2-3 in. long, sparingly divided, 

 bearing distant sessile and pedicelled erect spikelets, pedicel 

 rarely twice as long as the spikelet, but sometimes much 

 longer ; spikelets to"-§- i n - l° n g> dorsally compressed, ovoid 

 oblong or ellipsoid, acute, glabrous; glume I one-foutth to 

 one-third of III, broadly ovate, broader than long, 5-veined, 

 the pair of veins on each side the mid vein often arching 

 to it, II and III subequal, II orbicular-ovate, acuminate, 

 n-veined, III g-veined, paleate, neuter, palea linear-oblong, 

 IV sessile, oblong-ovate, obtuse or subacute, dorsally convex, 

 smooth, yellow or brown, shining, margins broadly incurved. 



Cultivated in Ceylon. 



Tropical countries. 



In Fl. B. Ind. 1 have followed most authors in keeping P. miliare 

 and P. psilopodium as different species, assuming that the latter was 

 indigenous in India and Ceylon. Mr. Duthie, who knows the cultivated 

 grasses of India better than any one, has in vain tried to distinguish 

 them (see Fodd. Grasses, p. 10). As P. psilopodium it has been con- 

 sidered to be indigenous in the Himalaya, but this requires confirmation. 



Ferguson cites P. miliare, Lam., as a synonym of P. miliaceum, and 

 P. psilopodium as a different species; but, as I have stated under the 

 former, I think he has confounded two plants under the name. He 

 mentions P. psilopodium as a cultivated plant, adding that the cultivated 

 form of both it and P. milieu e often spring up in the debris collected 

 from the Colombo bazaars. Unfortunately he does not say how these 

 grains are distinguishable. Watt (Diet. Econ. Prod. Ind.) mentions P. 

 psilopodium as a species nearly allied to, or possibly a variety of, P. 

 miliare, wild in the Himilaya, but also cultivated. The grain of 

 P. miliare he describes as of inferior quality, and mostly consumed by 

 the poorer classes. 



29. P. caesium, Nees in Hook. Kew Journ. ii. 97 (1850). 

 P. reticulatum, Thw. ex Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 105 (non Griseb.). C. P. 

 3890. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 48. 



Annual, glabrous or more or less hairy ; stems 2-3 ft, 

 tufted, stout, erect from the root, sometimes as thick as a 

 swan's quill, leafy, internodes long, nodes bearded; 1. 6-10 by 

 \-\ in., narrowly linear-lanceolate, acuminate, rather coria- 

 ceous, glabrous or laxly hairy, chiefly beneath, rarely hirsute, 

 margins scabrid, ciliate towards the subcordate base, sheaths 

 3-6 in., loose, usually hispid with long spreading hairs, rarely 

 glabrous, margins ciliate, ligule a coriaceous ciliate ridge ; 

 panicle 10-18 in. long and broad, glabrous, slender, erect or 

 decurved, rhachis angular, scaberulous, branches 3-5 in., very 

 many, opposite alt. and fascicled, branchlets capillary, wiry, 

 flexuous, bearing few distant solitary or binate spikelets, 

 scaberulous ; spikelets T V To m -» sessile or pedicelled, pedicel 

 longer or shorter than the spikelet, sometimes very long, 



