Eleusine.] Graminecz. 277 



Spikelets pointing forwards, at an acute angle with the rhachis of the 

 spike. 

 Spikes 1-5 in. long, whorled or racemose. 



Glumes I and II with entire tips . . . i. E. indica. 

 Glumes I and II with notched tips. . . 2. E. verticillata. 



Spikes |— \ in., capitate 3. E. BREVIFOLIA. 



Spikelets erect, at right angles to the rhachis of 



the spike 4. E. ^egyptiaca. 



1. E. indica, Gaertn. Fruct.'x. 8 (1788). Wal-mal-kunakan, S. 



Thw. Enum. 371. Moon, Cat. 9. C. P. 937. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 293. Burm. Fl. Zeyl. t. 47, f. 1. Rheede, Hort. Mai. 

 otii. t. 69. 



Annual; stems 1-2 ft, tufted, short, erect, slightly com- 

 pressed, glabrous, roots of strong fibres; 1. bifarious, as long 

 as the stem, \-\ in. broad, narrowly linear, flat, rather flaccid, 

 glabrous or sparsely hairy, margins nearly smooth, base not 

 contracted, sheath compressed, mouth not auricled, ligule a 

 ridge of hairs ; spikes 2-7, digitate with sometimes 1 or 2 

 detached, 2-5 in. long, suberect or slightly recurved, axils 

 glandular and hairy, rhachis slender, dorsally flattened, 

 smooth, margins minutely scaberulous, bearing 2- or 

 more - seriate spikelets from base to tip ; spikelets very 

 variable in size, ^-\ in., 3-5-fld., sessile, pointing forward; 

 glumes rather membranous, I oblong-ovate, acute, keel 

 scabrid, II twice as large, acute or mucronate, keeled, with 

 1-7 green median veins, keel quite smooth, fig. glumes ovate, 

 •obtuse acute or acuminate, keel hardly scaberulous upwards, 

 lateral veins very slender, keels of palea faintly scabrid; 

 grain oblong, obtusely trigonous, pericarp loose, hyaline, seed 

 tubercled in waved concentric ridges. 



Common, especially on road-sides. Spikes pale green. 



Tropics of Old World; introduced into the New. 



The E. coracana, Gaertn. Fruct. i. 8, t. 1 ; Trim. Cat. 109, the Sinhalese 

 * Kitrrakan] whence the name coracana, is a very stout prolific form of 

 this, with the spikelets crowded in many series, and a globose rugose 

 seed. It is extensively cultivated for its grain in Ceylon (as in all parts 

 ■of India), up to 2500 ft., and is known as Marua in Bengal, Kaivarii or 

 Kelvaragu in Tamil, and ' Raggi' in Madras. 



Ferguson describes it as the most prolific of cultivated grasses. One 

 variety, E. stricta, Roxb., giving the increase of 120-fold; another 500- 

 fold; whilst on two tufts, the produce of one seed, 56 stems grew; no 

 less than 8100-fold of grain was carefully calculated to have been the 

 produce of this plant. Two varieties are cultivated by the Sinhalese. 



2. X3. verticillata, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 8, Fl. Ind. i. 346 (1832). 

 E. racemosa, Heyne in Roth, Nov. Sp. 80. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 295 (not then known from Ceylon). Duthie, Fodd. 

 Grass. N. Ind. t, 70. 



Annual, glabrous ; stems 1-3 ft, tufted, erect, slender, 



