Calachne.] GraminecE. 269 



erect, ascending, or creeping below ; 1. linear-lanceolate, flat 



or convolute and filiform ; spikelets very small, in small 



panicles or interrupted spiciform racemes, 2-fld., not articulate 



on the pedicels, lower fl. perfect, upper fem., rachilla not 



articulate at the base, elongate and slender between the fig. 



glumes, not produced beyond the upper; glumes 4, I and II 



membranous, orbicular or broadly oblong, empty, persistent, 



faintly veined, II largest, III and IV fig., persistent on the 



rhachilla, thinly coriaceous, veins faint or o, III cymbiform, 



dorsally rounded, margins strongly incurved, palea of the 



same texture, ovate, keel or veins o or very obscure, margins 



strongly incurved below, IV much smaller, flat or concave, 



keels of palea hispidly ciliate ; lodicules 2, very minute; stam. 



2 or 3, styles short, free, stigmas densely penicillate; grains 



fusiform or oblong, nearly terete, free within the glumes. — 



Sp. 2 or 3 ; regarded as vars. of one in Fl. B. Ind. 



A very anomalous genus, perhaps allied to Isachne, to which a species 

 was referred by Wight, but differing in the very persistent empty glumes, 

 in the elongated rhachilla between the fig. glumes, and in the lower 

 flower alone being always perfect. The species are very variable. After 

 a re-examination of the Ceylon specimens of C. pulchella and perpusilla 

 in the Peradeniya Herbarium, I find I was wrong in regarding these as 

 varieties of one. 



Spikelets in interrupted spiciform panicles . . 1. C. PULCHELLA. 

 Spikelets in open panicles 2. C. perpusilla. 



1. C. pulchella, Br. Prodr. 187 (1810). 



Var. simplieiuseula, Fl. B. Ind. vii. 271 (1896). C. simpli- 

 eiuseula, Munro in Benth. Fl. Austral, vii. 626 (in note). C. pulchella, 

 Thw. Enum. 273. C. brachiata, Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 108. Isachne 

 simpliciuscula, Wight and Arn. in Wight, Cat. n. 2044. C. P. 834. 



Stems 8-12 in., erect; 1. ^— 1 by \-\ in., linear-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, flat, closely striate, above most minutely scaberu- 

 lous, veinless, beneath glabrous, 5-7 -veined, margins smooth, 

 sheath glabrous, mouth not auricled, ligule a fringe of fine 

 hairs; panicle 2-4 in., strict, erect, spiciform, 2-4 in. long, of 

 subglobose clusters of sessile spikelets \ in. long or less, 

 rarely the clusters are formed on very short lateral branchlets, 

 rhachis of spike rather stout, quite smooth ; spikelets globosely 

 ovoid, about j T in. long, rarely very shortly pedicelled, straw- 

 col'd., shining, rhachilla about half as long as the lower fig. 

 glume; empty glumes about half as long as the lower fig. 

 glume, orbicular, tips rounded, lower very membranous, upper 

 less so, veins 3 or more, lower fig. glume shortly stipitate, 

 globosely ovoid, obtuse, sometimes puberulous towards the 



