Ischcemnm.] Graminece. 217 



compressed, trigonous, bearded dorsally and on the angles ; 

 sessile spikelet \-\ in., oblong or ovoid-oblong, callus very- 

 short, bearded; glume I bicuspidate, coriaceous, convex, 

 smooth or pitted, hirsute below the middle, flatter and veined 

 above the middle with lateral ciliolate broad or narrow wings, 

 margins narrowly incurved above, broadly below, II as long 

 as or longer than I, chartaceous, lanceolate, acuminate or 

 awned, 5-veined, keel narrowly winged towards the tip, III 

 ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate towards the tip, triandrous, 

 palea lanceolate, acuminate, opaque with broad hyaline ciliolate 

 wings, IV fern., cleft to the middle, base 3-veined, lobes oblong, 

 obtuse, ciliate, awn \-\ in., palea lanceolate, acuminate, 

 2-veined, eciliate; anth. \ in.; styles and stigmas short; 

 pedicelled spikelet like the sessile, glume IV usually awned. 



Throughout the Island ; common (Ferguson). 



Plains and lower hills of India, Nicobar Islds., Malaya, China, 

 Australia. 



The two principal forms of this variable grass in Herb. Peraden. 

 are: — 



1. Stem i-i| fl., erect or suberect, leafy chiefly towards the base; 

 1. up to \ in. broad, linear-lanceolate, sparsely hairy, sheaths glabrous, 

 spikes villous, glume I smooth. Var. lofigipilum, Hack. C. P. 3167. 



2. Stem tall, decumbent and creeping below ; 1. narrower and sheaths 

 nearly glabrous, spikes more slender, less hairy, spikelets smaller, 

 glume I often transversly pitted. C. P. 875. 3167 (in part), 3235. 

 Includes vars. prorepens, scrobiculahtm, and malacophyllum of Hackel, 

 wholly or in part. 



One form of this grass is reserved in fields and under the shade of 

 coco-nut trees in and near Colombo, and extensively brought into town 

 as fodder for cattle. Is well known as the Rat-tana, literally red grass 

 of the Sinhalese (Ferguson). 



7. I. rivale, Hack. Monogr. Androp. 228 (i{ 

 /. pz'/osum,Nees, ex Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 107 (non Hack.). Spodiopogon 

 rivalis, Thw. MSS. C. P. 3871. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 136 (/. hirti, Hack, forma). 



Perennial ; stems 2-3 ft., stout, much branched, leafy, 

 glabrous, smooth, polished, nodes glabrous, or upper tomen- 

 tose ; 1. 3-5 by \-\ in., linear-lanceolate, narrowed from 

 about the middle to the finely acuminate tip and base, flat, 

 .glabrous or ciliate at the very base, smooth on both surfaces 

 and nearly so on the margins, midrib slender, sheaths glabrous, 

 mouth not auricled, ciliate, ligule very short, membranous, 

 eciliate ; spikes 2-4, 2-3 in. long by \ in. across the spikelets, 

 rhachis fragile, internodes and pedicels not half as long as 

 the spikelets, stout, compressed, rigidly long-ciliate, sessile 

 spikelet \— \ in., callus rather large, stout, very shortly bearded; 

 glume I oblong-ovate, bicuspidate, coriaceous, tumid below 

 the middle, more flattened above it, 7-9-veined, sparsely hairy, 



