Andropogon.'] Graminecz. 233 



Uva Province; Badulla {Thwaites), Ella Pass and Passava (Trz'men). 



Trop. Asia and Australia. 



Hackel refers the Ceylon plant of Thwaites to his var. nitidus, dis- 

 tinguished by the entire and awnless glume IV of the sessile spikelet; 

 ."but I find this glume to be more often bifid and sometimes awned. 



6. A. squarrosus, Linn.fil. Suppl. 433 (1781). Saewandara, S. 

 Vettivera, T. 



Hack. Monogr. Androp. 542. A. muricatus, Retz. ; Thw. Enum. 368. 

 Moon, Cat. 72. C. P. 871. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 186. 



Rootstock branched, densely tufted, furnished with long 

 spongy, aromatic, brown root-fibres; stems 2-3 ft. high, stout, 

 erect, leafy, as thick as a goose-quill at the base, smooth, 

 hard, polished, solid ; 1. 1-2 ft. by J- f in., sub-bifarious, 

 erect, narrowly linear, firmly acuminate, flat, strongly keeled 

 towards the base, smooth, margins usually scaberulous, 

 sheaths coriaceous, glabrous, not auricled, ligule a ridge of 

 minute hairs; panicle 4-12 in., erect, narrowly thyrsiform, 

 of fascicled, suberect, slender, strict, articulate spikes 2-3 in. 

 long, rhachis of panicle strict, smooth or scaberulous, of 

 spikes filiform, internodes shorter than the spikelets, sca- 

 berulous; sessile spikelet \ in., callus shortly bearded; glume 

 I ovate, obtuse, concave, thickly coriaceous, margins incurved, 

 rounded keel and sides aculeolate, veins obscure, II as long, 

 oblong, acuminate, concave, coriaceous, margins hyaline, 

 ■ciliolate, keel aculeolate, III linear-oblong, hyaline, ciliolate, 

 veins o, IV shorter, linear, tip obtuse or retuse, aristulate, 

 glabrous, I -veined, palea ovate-lanceolate ; lodicules very 

 minute, broadly quadrate, many-veined, connate ; styles and 

 stigmas short ; pedicelled spikelet oblong-lanceolate, pedicel 

 as long as the internode, scaberulous, tip bearded, glume 



I 3-5-veined, margins and sometimes rounded keel scabrid, 



II ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, 3-veined, IV oblong, ciliolate, 

 palea linear-oblong, obtuse ; lodicules cuneate, anth. linear. 



Hotter parts of the Island (Thwaites). Common, but not truly wild ; 

 I have obtained it at 2000 ft. (Ferguson). 



Plain and lower hills of India, Burma, Malaya, Trop. Africa. 



The Khus-khus, much used for screens (tatties) to exclude the heat 

 in India, also for thatching. The roots yield a fragrant otto. The 

 African form has a well-developed awn to glume IV of the fem. spikelets. 

 The spinules on - glume I and II vary greatly in number and length. 



7. A. venustus, Thw. Enum. 367 (1864). 

 Hack. Monogr. Androp. 545. C. P. 2875. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 178. 



Perennial; stem tall, stout, erect, as thick as a goose-quill 

 below, compressed, smooth, polished; 1. 12-16 by T V~ \ in.,, 

 strict, rigid, erect, smooth, convolute, filiform and finely 



