1 68 GraminecE. \ppUsmenusi 



oval-oblong, free within the hardened glume and palea. — 

 Sp. few, very variable ; 3 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Awns quite smooth, obtuse . . ... . 1. O. COMPOSITUS. 



Awns microscopically scaberulous. 



Awn of glume I much longer than the glume . 2. O. Burmannii. 



Awn of glume I not longer than the glume . . 3. O. Thwaitesii. 



1. O. corapositus, Beauv. Agrost. 54(1812). 



Herm. Mus. 36. Fl. Zeyl. n. 42. Panicum compositum, Linn.; Thw- 

 Enum. 359. Moon, Cat. 8. P. aristatum, Retz. ; Moon, Cat. 8. P. 

 elatius, L. f. : Moon, Cat. 8. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 60. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 188, 189, 190 {Panicum). 



Stem 1-3 ft., sometimes as thick as a crow-quill, branched 

 and creeping below, branches ascending, leafy, roots sub- 

 solitary from the lower nodes, long, wiry; 1. very variable,. 

 1-7 in. long, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, finely acuminate, thin, 

 flat, glabrous or more or less hairy or hirsute on both surfaces,, 

 base narrow, auricled on one side, sheath glabrous or pubescent,, 

 margins ciliate; panicle long- or short-peduncled, 3-10 in. 

 long, drooping, rhachis and rhachis of spikes glabrous or 

 pubescent, deeply grooved ; spikes subsessile, few or many,, 

 rather distant, short and erect, or long up to 5 in., and. 

 decurved, rhachis rather stout; spikelets \-\ in. (excl. 

 the awn), very shortly pedicelled, secund and more or less 

 bifariously spreading, pedicel pubescent and often setose;, 

 glumes I — 1 1 1 glabrous or pubescent, I shorter than III,, 

 ovate-lanceolate, ciliate, 3-5-veined, narrowed into a stiff 

 smooth straight awn, \ in. long or longer, II larger than I,, 

 ovate, 7-veined, awn as of I, but shorter, III broadly 

 oblong, obtuse, apiculate, 9-veined, palea narrow, IV shorter 

 than III. 



Th^re are six principal forms or varieties of this protean plant in 

 Herb. Peraden. ; all may have very short basal leaves, and much reduced 

 erect panicles. 



a. Stem 3 ft. and upwards, as thick as a crow-quill, glabrous, inter- 

 nodes 3-6 in.; I.4-7 by i-i| in, glabrous on both surfaces; panicle- 

 10 in. long, spikes 3-5 in., spikelets glabrous, longest awn \ in. C. P. 913 

 (in part). 



b. As in form a, but stem and nodes pubescent, sheaths and 1. hirsutely 

 tomentose, rhachis of panicle and spikes clothed with spreading hairs, 

 spikelets glabrous. C. P. 913 (in part). 



c. More slender, 1-2 ft. long, internodes glabrous or nearly so, nodes 

 pubescent; 1. 1-3 in., ovaie, acuminate, more or less hirsute on both sur- 

 faces and on the sheaths ; panicle 3-6 in., rhachis and of spikes rather 

 stout, glabrous or nearly so, spikes 1-3 in., spikelets glabrous, longest 

 awns \-\ in. C. P. 185. 



d. Very slender, 12-18 in. long, internodes short and nodes glabrous;: 

 1. 2-3 in., ovate- or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, sheath glabrous, 

 margins ciliate ; panicle 2-4 in., rhachis and of spikes very slender,, 



< 



