LJ2 Graminece. [Stenotaphrum.. 



n. STENOTAPHRUM, Trin. 



Perennial, stoloniferous, leafy, glabrous grasses, with flat- 

 tened ascending stems from a creeping much-branched root- 

 stock ; 1. distichous, linear, obtuse, sheath flattened, ligule a 

 ridge with short hairs; inflorescence a terminal, peduncled,. 

 linear, dorsally compressed, pseudo-articulate, spiciform, her- 

 baceous rhachis, bearing on one surface one or two parallel 

 rows of oblong cavities, each containing, immersed in it, a 

 short branchlet or spike bearing two or more secund uni- 

 or biseriate spikelets ; spikelets sessile, ovate - lanceolate,, 

 acuminate, laterally compressed, appressed to the rhachis, 

 1— 8-fld., upper one or more spikelets perfect, lower one or 

 more usually imperfect, rhachis ending in a mucro; glumes 4, 

 I very small, veinless; II about as long as IV, orbicular- 

 ovate, subacute, membranous, 7-veined, III ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, at length coriaceous, paleate, triandrous, IV 

 lance'olate, coriaceous, paleate, bisexual, paleas of III and 

 IV coriaceous, acute, sides involute; lodicules 2, quadrate- 

 cuneate; anth. linear; styles free, stigmas plumose, exserted 

 at the top of the glume; grain oblong, compressed, free within 

 the hardened glume and palea. — Species 3 or 4; 2 in Fl.B.Ind. 



S. complanatum, Schrank in Bot. Zeit. iii. Beil. 26 (1824). 

 Thw. Enum. 361. C. P. 912. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 90 (S. glabrum). Kunth, Revis. Gram. ii. t. 211 (S.. 

 madagascai'iense). 



Stem 12-T8 in., erect or inclined, smooth, leafy, internodes 

 1-2 in., nodes glabrous ; 1. 4-6 by \-\ in., exactly linear, mid- 

 rib stout, margins smooth or nearly so, flat, rather coriaceous, 

 base rounded, suddenly strongly contracted at the insertion,, 

 sheath very strongly compressed, green, mouth rounded, not 

 auricled, ciliate, ligule a few hairs; peduncle 4-12 in., slightly 

 compressed, smooth; rhachis of infl. 2-5 by iV~i m -> dorsally 

 convex, margins most minutely serrulate, internodes \-\ in.,, 

 rarely disarticulating, unequally two-lobed, one lobe forming 

 an erect tooth, cavities as long as the internodes, 1-2-seriate;. 

 spikes of 4-8 bifariously imbricating, sessile spikelets about 

 \ in. long; glume I reniform, ciliate, white, II obtuse, ciliate 

 towards the tip, III with a narrow hyaline ciliate margin 

 above the middle, veins obscure, IV terete, acuminate, tip- 

 ciliate; anth. yellow; stigmas purple. 



Hotter parts of the Island ; not uncommon. On moist banks near 

 Colombo, forming a sward (Ferguson). 



