-AndropogonJ] Grammece. 239 



II linear, obtuse, concave, dorsally rigidly coriaceous, dark 

 brown and hispidulous, margins sigmoidly inflexed, and tip 

 chartaceous, white, III short, oblong, truncate, hyaline, vein- 

 less, IV the long subulate white base of a hirsute awn about 

 3 in. long, which is swollen where it leaves the spikelet ; ov. 

 linear, styles exserted at the top of the spikelet, stigmas 

 longer than the spikelet, narrow ; pedicelled spikelets much 

 larger than the sessile, pedicel slender, glabrous, glume I 

 lanceolate, acuminate, thin, green, flat or twisted, dorsally 

 hispid with long tubercle-based hairs, margins more or less 

 (often unequally) winged, wings serrulate, II oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, acuminate, 5 -veined, lateral veins in pairs, margins 

 hyaline, white, III oblong, tip rounded, white, 1 -veined, IV 

 •obovate-oblong, veinless, ciliate ; lodicules minute, cuneate ; 

 anth. linear; lower sessile spikelets of the spike \'va. long, 

 glume I oblong-lanceolate, sparsely hirsute, margins narrowly 

 winged, II lanceolate, acuminate, 3-veined, margins hyaline, 

 ciliate, III oblanceolate, hyaline, 1 -veined, ciliate ; grain (of 

 sessile fern, spikelet) linear. 



Common throughout the Island (Thwaites). 



Moist hot countries, extending to the Mediterranean region. 



This species varies a good deal in the glumes of the pedicelled and 

 lower (on the spike) sessile neuter or male spikelets. Hackel refers 

 Thwaites's specimen to his var. Roxburghii, characterised by the long 

 ramous stems, often decumbent at the base, male spikelets with tubercle- 

 based hairs all over the back or above the middle only, and more slender 

 spikes, \\ in. long ; all very inconstant characters in Ceylon. Commonly 

 known in India as the Spear- grass, a pest to the cultivator and to the 

 pedestrian, the callus of its hygrometric awns piercing ordinary clothing 

 and the flesh beneath. ' Cattle do not touch it ' (Ferguson). 



14. A. triticeus, Br. Prod. 201 (1810). 



Hack. Monogr. Androp. 588. Heteropogon z'nszgm's, Thw. Enum. 437. 

 C. P. 3804. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 200. 



Perennial ; roots of very stout tortuous fibres ; stem 4-5 ft., 

 robust, erect, leafy, simple or branched below, smooth, 

 polished ; 1. 1-2 ft. by \-\ in., linear, acuminate, glaucous, 

 sparsely hairy, margins scabrous, sheaths loose, compressed, 

 coriaceous, mouth auricled, glabrous or bearded with long 

 hairs, ligule short, rounded, ciliolate; spikes 3-6 in. long, 

 green, rhachis inarticulate except the 4-6 upper internodes, 

 glabrous; spikelets very many, all but the few terminal 

 closely imbricating, subsecund, awnless, male or neuter, callus 

 short, glabrous; upper sessile spikelets long-awned, \ in. long, 

 callus long, acute, bearded with dark brown hairs; glume I 

 linear-oblong, subterete, rigidly coriaceous, hispidulous, tip 

 obtuse, glabrous, dorsally deeply grooved, sides involute, not 



