Sporobo/us.] Graminece. 261 



long as III, oval, i-veined, III broadly ovate-oblong, sub- 

 acute, 1 -veined, palea plicate in the median line; stam. 2, anth. 

 half as long as the palea ; grain pyriformly obovoid, truncate, 

 obtusely 4-gonous, umbonate by the loose pericarp, red-brown, 

 rugulose. 



Var. nanus, Hook.f. 



Whole plant, 3-6 in. high, densely tufted, leafy at the 

 base chiefly, stems very slender; 1. subulate, sheaths very 

 short; panicle 1-2 in., interruptedly spiciform, spikelets Y V in- 

 long, in minute clusters, erect. 



Very common throughout the Island. Var. nana, Jaffna (Trimen). 



Trop. Asia and Australia. 



Three stamens are said to occur in Indian specimens, and probably do 

 in Ceylon, but I have found two only. Var. nanus was referred to 

 S. indicus by Dr. Trimen, but, though differing so much in size and in 

 the reduced panicle, I think the spikelets (hardly ^o i n - l° n g) are un- 

 doubtedly those of S. diander. 



2. S. indicus, Br. Prod. 170 (1810). 

 Thw. Enum. 370. 



Fl. Brit. Ind. iii. 247. Trin. Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 60 (Vilfa). Jacq. Ic. Rar. 

 iii. t. 16 (Agrostis tenacissimd). 



Perennial; stems 2-3 ft. high, densely tufted, stout, some- 

 times as thick as a small goose-quill, internodes long, base 

 sometimes clothed with shining sheaths of old leaves; 1. very 

 slender, 1-2 ft., wiry, flexuous, convolute, rarely flat, tips long, 

 filiform, quite smooth, sheaths smooth, strongly ribbed, lower 

 short, upper long, mouth hardly auricled, ligule a ridge of 

 very minute hairs; panicles 12-18 in. long by J-f in. broad, 

 often interrupted, rhachis slender, smooth, branches very 

 short, densely crowded, erect, covered to the base with 

 imbricating green spikelets xV"Tff m - l° n g; glumes I and II 

 hyaline, broadly oblong, veinless, I about one-fourth as long 

 as III, half as long as II, III broadly ovate, acute, i-veined, 

 palea plicate in the median line; stam. 3, anth. half as long as 

 the palea; grain pyriformly obovoid, 4-gonous, truncate, um- 

 bonate by the loose remains of the pericarp, red-brown, 

 rugulose. 



Very common throughout the Island. 



All warm countries. 



A much more robust plant than S. diander, with a very different infl. 

 and larger spikelets; their grains are undistinguishable. 



3. S. Wallichii, Munro ex Stapf in Fl. Bnt. hid. vii. 248 (1896). 

 Trimen in Journ. Bot. xxxvii. 171. 



Fl. B. Ind. 1. c. 



Perennial (?); stem 3-4 ft., as thick as a goose-quill, or 

 more slender, erect, strict, sparingly leafy, internodes very 

 long; 1. 1-2 ft. by \-\ in., flat or convolute and almost filiform, 



