Arundifiella.] GraminecE. 1 79 



very short membrane ; panicle 6-10 in., contracted, rhachis 

 strict, angled and grooved, smooth, spiciform branches 1-4 

 in., erecto-patent, simple, strict, bearded at the axils, scaberu- 

 lous ; spikelets T V-s in -> rather crowded, subsecund, solitary 

 or binate, glabrous, articulate on the pedicel or not, pedicel 

 rarely longer than the spikelet, base naked ; glumes I— III 

 thinly coriaceous, I and II broadly ovate, I subaristately 

 -acuminate, 3-veined, glabrous or scaberulous, II rather longer, 

 ovate, acuminate, 5-veined, lateral veins distant from the 

 median, III sessile, longer than I, oblong, acuminate, faintly 

 5-veined, paleate, male or neuter, IV one-third shorter than 

 III, oval, membranous, hyaline, glabrous, muticous, base 

 quite naked, paleas of III and IV oblong, truncate* flaps 

 very narrow, eciliate, hardly auricled, dorsally faintly tuber- 

 culate. 



Low country; abundant in the S. of the Island (Thwaites). Colombo, 

 Peradeniya. 



Also in Malabar. 



Glume IV scaberulous in Malabar specimens. I find no trace of 

 hairs at the base of glume IV. The spikelets are sometimes wholly 

 male, glume III being neuter or having 3 small anthers only, and 

 glume IV having 3 large anthers. In other spikelets glume IV has 

 only a minute ovary. The paleas of glumes III and IV have no or 

 very obscure basal auricles to the flaps. 



5. A. laxiflora, Hook. f. Fl. B. Ind. vii. 75 (1896). 

 A. nervosa, Thw. Enum. 362, non Nees and excl. syn. C. P. 919 (in 

 part), 3782. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 75. 



Annual (?) ; stem i§-2 ft, tufted, erect, much branched 

 from the base, slender, leafy, lower internodes 1-2 in., upper 

 much longer, nodes glabrous ; 1. 4-8 by \-\ in., linear- 

 lanceolate, attenuately acuminate, strict, flat, rather coria- 

 ceous, smooth, glabrous or softly hairy on both surfaces, 

 margins smooth, base subcordate, sheaths glabrous or hairy, 

 upper very long, auricles small, villous, ligule a short mem- 

 brane with long silky hairs ; panicle sessile or shortly 

 exserted from the upper l.-sheath, 4-8 in. long, erect, effuse, 

 rhachis very slender, branches 2-3 in., capillary, alt. or 

 fascicled, erect or spreading, scaberulous; spikelets -yq-\, 

 solitary, distant, articulate on the capillary pedicels, ovoid, 

 glabrous, pale green, base naked; glumes thinly coriaceous, 

 I and II separately deciduous, broadly ovate, subaristately 

 acuminate, I 3-veined, II about one-third longer, suddenly 

 narrowed into a beak-like truncate membranous tip half as 

 long as the glume, 5-veined, III sessile, linear-oblong, sub- 

 acute, faintly 5-veined, male, flaps of palea ciliate, obscurely 



