2 1 6 GvaminecB. \lschcEtnunu 



short, truncate; spikes 2, shortly peduncled, \-\\ in. long, 

 closely appressed together, perfectly glabrous, rhachis fragile, 

 internodes about \ as l° n g as the spikelets, acutely trigonous, 

 angles glabrous or minutely ciliate ; spikelets i-fld., sessile 

 and pedicelled closely appressed ; sessile \-\ in., callus 

 short, broad, glabrous; glume I ovate or oblong, con- 

 vex, coriaceous, flatter and narrowly winged from above 

 the middle to the minutely truncate or 2-toothed tip, 

 margin narrowly incurved above, broadly below, II as 

 long as I, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate or shortly awned, 

 coriaceous, 5 -veined, keel smooth, narrowly winged from 

 above the middle to the tip, III oblong-lanceolate, acute, 

 firm, with a narrow ciliate wing, 5-7-veined, triandrous, palea 

 as long, lanceolate, acuminate, coriaceous with a hyaline 

 ciliolate wing, IV bisexual, oblong, obtuse, aristulate, coria- 

 ceous with broadly hyaline sides, 1-3-veined, tip ciliolate, 

 palea nearly as long as the glume, narrow ; lodicules large; 

 anth. linear ; styles short, stigmas very large ; pedicelled 

 spikelet smaller than the sessile, pedicel stout, sometimes very 

 shorty angular; glume I narrow, II obscurely winged dorsally, 

 under the tip ; sexes as in the sessile spikelet. 



Common, especially on sandy shores. 



Southern India, from Canara southward, Burma, Malaya, China, 

 Australia. 



Very common on the shores of lakes, where it is a low creeping plant, 

 with white stoloniferous underground stems. In the jungle, where it 

 gets support, it is a tall coarse grass and grows to the length of several 

 feet. It is at once distinguishable by its white flowers. Large 

 quantities are collected by the grass-women for horse-food in Colombo, 

 but it is a coarse fodder (Ferguson). 



6. I. ciliare, Retz. 03s. vi. 36 (179 1). Rat-tana, 6*. 



Spodiopogon obliquivalvis, Nees; Thw. Enum. 365 (excl. some syn.). 

 S. zeylanicus, Nees ex Steud. Syn. Gram. 373, ^77- Andropogon 

 Macrcei, Steud. 1. c. 377. C. P. 874, 875, 3167, 3235. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 133. 



Perennial (?) ; stems erect or ascending, sometimes decum- 

 bent below for a foot or more, and rooting at the nodes, 

 slender, nodes glabrous or bearded ; 1. 2-6 by ^-§ in., linear 

 or linear-lanceolate, acuminate, flat, narrowed from the middle 

 to the rounded or acute sessile base, glabrous, hirsute, or 

 villous on both surfaces, margins scabrid, midrib slender, 

 veins obscure, or 3-5 distinct pairs, sheaths glabrous or 

 hirsute, compressed, loose, auricles rounded, ciliate, ligule 

 membranous, ciliate; spikes 2, i|- 3 in. long, \ in. diam. 

 across the spikelets, or more slender, rhachis fragile, inter- 

 nodes and pedicels of upper spikelets subequal forming a fork 

 with the sessile spikelets opposite the rounded sinus, erect, 



