242 GraminecB. [Andropogon. 



II as in the sessile spikelet, but thinner, dorsally rounded, 



III linear-oblong, tip rounded, hyaline, ciliate, faintly 2-veined; 

 anth. and lodicules as in upper sessile spikelets. 



More elevated parts of the Central Provinces (Thwaites). Abundant 

 at Wilson's Bungalow, Uva, also at Colombo (Ferguson), Passawa, 

 Ugaldura Valley, Hagkala. 



The Deccan, China, Trop. and S. Africa. 



A. Schce?ianthus is a widely distributed and variable plant throughout 

 the hotter parts of Asia and Africa, with difficulty distinguished from 

 A. Nardus, except by the deep groove in the centre of glume I of the 

 bisexual spikelets, which, however, is sometimes obscure or even absent. 

 Its var. versicolor, however, differs (in Ceylon) from A. Nardus m the longer 

 spikelets. The spikelets, however, vary so much in different parts of the 

 spike as to require the above long description, which does not cover 

 intermediate forms, which include some with very broad cordate and 

 amplexicaul bases of the leaves. 



Thwaites remarks that the infl. has, when crushed, a rather agreeable 

 aromatic odour, and that the essential oil (' Lemon oil,' see Enum. p. 367) 

 appears to be situated principally at the base of the spikelets. 



According to Watt (Diet. Econom. Prod, of India, i. 249), A. Schcenan- 

 thus, is the Geranium grass, Rusa oil grass, and Oil of Ginger grass of 

 India, the oil of which bears a number of names. I find no record of its 

 being cultivated in Ceylon, as is A. Nardus. 



17. A. Nardus, L. Sfi. PL 1046 (1753). Kaana, S. 



Herm. Mus. 26. Burm. Thes. 35. Fl. Zeyl. 45. Trim. Cat. Ceyl. 

 PL 107. A. Martini, Thw. Enum. 367, non Roxb. C. P. 2733. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 205. Benth. and Trim. Medic. PI. t. 297. 



Stem 2-5 ft. high, or more in cultivated forms, erect from 

 a stout woody base, which sometimes forms a caudex nearly 

 an inch in diameter, emitting dense masses of long stout 

 fibrous roots, simple or branched, smooth, polished, solid, 

 leafy upwards; 1. a foot long and upwards, ^-1 in. broad, 

 linear, tapering from the middle to a filiform tip and down- 

 wards to a narrow base, rigidly coriaceous, more or less 

 scabrid on both surfaces and margins, glaucous beneath,, 

 midrib broad and white above, slender and green beneath, 

 sheaths shorter than the internodes, terete, coriaceous, smooth, 

 mouth with rounded auricles, ligule ovate, scarious, ciliolate; 

 panicle very variable, elongate, interrupted, leafy, very many- 

 fid., contracted or effuse, general and proper bracts, |-i in., 

 narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous, coriaceous, margins 

 not membranous ; spikes binate on a short pedicel, unequal, 

 longer \-\ in. long, often at length deflexed, pedicel not half 

 the length of the bract; internodes much snorter than the 

 spikelets and with the compressed pedicels of upper spikelets 

 laterally copiously, villously ciliate, tip funnel-shaped, deeply 

 hollowed, mouth irregularly toothed ; spikelets few, binate, a 

 sessile bisexual and a pedicelled male ; sessile spikelet \-\ in. 



