Panicum.] Graminecz. 157 



Hotter parts of the Island (Thwaites). Dambulla, by the Temple, 

 cultivated (Ferguson). Spikelets pale brownish. 



Also in Afghanistan, the plains of India, Trop. Africa, and Australia. 



Often cultivated by the natives for medicine (Ferguson). Watt (Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. Ind. vi. 7) says, 'Used as a disin'ectant in smallpox, and 

 in Madras in throat affections,' also that the green young grass has been 

 stated to be poisonous to cattle. In the Ceylon specimens, the nodes, 

 and upper parts of the internodes are glaucous. 



yj. P. plicatutn, Lamk. Tabl. Encycl. i. 171 (1791). 



Thw. Enum. 360. Moon, Cat. 8. C. P. 890. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 55. Jacq Eclog. Gram. i. t. 1. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic.„ 

 t. 223. 



Perennial; stem 1-8 ft., erect or ascending from a woody- 

 branching rootstock, stout, leafy, internodes 2-6 in., nodes 

 strigillose; 1. 6-24 by |— 4 in., linear-lanceolate, finely acu- 

 minate, chartaceous, scabrid on both surfaces and on the 

 margins, base narrow, elongate, sessile on the sheath and 

 contracted into a slender petiole, veins very many, pinnately 

 inserted on the midrib in the lower third of the L, plicate 

 between the veins, sheaths scaberulous or smooth, eciliate, 

 ligule of long hairs ; panicle 1-2 ft., contracted, nodding, 

 rhachis stout, angular, scabrid, branches mostly alternate, 

 distant, lower 3-4 in. long, filiform, suberect, bearing short 

 capillary few-fid. branchlets, and with sometimes setiform 

 scabrid flowerless ones ; spikelets \ in., sessile or shortly pedi- 

 celled, ovoid, acute, glabrous; glume I about half as long as 

 III, orbicular- ovate, obtuse, 5-7-veined, II half as long as 

 IV or rather longer, orbicular-ovate, obtuse, veins 7-9, linked 

 by their tips, III longer than II, narrower, acuminate, empty, 

 paleate or not, veins 5, free, palea small; IV shorter than II, 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, dorsally rather flattened, striate, 

 punctulate, white, margins strongly incurved. 



Hotter moist parts of the Island, up to 2000 ft. 



Hilly parts of India, Burma, Malaya, China. 



Some Indian specimens have shorter oval-oblong 1., and rougher 

 glume IV. 



Another Panicum with plicate leaves, P.jlavescens, Sw. (Fl. B. Ind, 

 vii. 56), has been introduced into cultivated ground in the neighbourhood 

 of Colombo. It is a native of Tropical America. 



38. P. trig"onum. Rets. Obs. iii. 9 {excl. syn. Burm.) (1783). 

 Thw. Enum. 359 (in part). C P. 886 (in part), 8.38. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 56. 



Perennial ; stem very slender, extensively creeping and 

 branching below, branches 6-18 in., ascending, slender or 

 filiform, leafy, glabrous, internodes variable, nodes glabrous, 

 lower emitting very long subsolitary filiform roots; 1. |— 3 

 by i _ ¥ in -> lanceolate, acuminate, thin, flat, glabrous or 



