2 So Graminece. \DichcBtaria. 



Warm regions of the Old World ; introduced into the New. 



A very common weed, varying greatly with the nature of the soil. 



59. *DINEBRA, J acq. 



An annual leafy grass; 1. flat; spikelets 2-3-fld., biseriate 



secund and imbricating in short spikes which are biseriate 



and articulate on the spiciform branches of a pyramidal 



racemiform panicle, strongly laterally compressed, rhachilla 



slender, articulate at the base and between the fig. glumes ; 



glumes 4-5, uppermost often neuter, I and II subequal, 



lanceolate, narrowed into slender awns, hyaline, keeled, 



empty, persistent, fig. glumes much smaller than the empty, 



membranous, ovate-oval, obtuse, keeled, mid-vein slender, 



lateral veins very short, near the margins or o, keel ciliate 



with very fine hairs, callus o, palea shorter than the glume, 



linear-oblong, obtuse, keels delicately ciliolate ; lodicules 2, 



minute ; stam. 3, anth. minute, didymous ; styles free, short, 



stigmas exserted at the top of the glume, shortly penicillate; 



grain narrowly ovoid, obscurely trigonous.^Monotypic. 



*D. arabica, Jacq. Fragm. 77 (1809). 



Trim. Cat. 109. Rleusine calycina, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 346. 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 296. Beauv. Agrost. t. 16. 



Stems 1-3 ft., tufted, stout or slender, erect or geniculately 

 ascending, leafy throughout, nodes glabrous; 1. $-% by \-\ in., 

 linear, finely acuminate, flaccid, glabrous or sparsely hairy 

 above, base rounded, contracted at the insertion, sheaths thin, 

 loose, mouth not auricled, ligule a narrow lacerate membrane; 

 panicle 4-12 in. long, erect, branches \-2\ in. long, alt. or 

 whorled, slender, strict, spreading or deflexed ; spikes of 

 spikelets very many, 3— § in. long, rhachis dorsally flattened, 

 ventrally trigonous, with an acute central ridge, which is 

 hollowed opposite each spikelet, margins green, scaberulous ; 

 spikelets alternate, sessile, \-\ in. long, with the awns closely 

 appressed to the rhachis, and somewhat sunk in its hollow ; 

 awns of the empty glumes slightly recurved, minutely 

 scaberulous, flg. glumes T V in. long, white ; grain pale 

 yellow-brown, surface rather rough, embryo narrowly oblong. 



Near Colombo, common, but introduced (Ferguson). Panicle pale 

 green. 



All India, Afghanistan, and westward to Senegal. 



This common Indian plant is sure to spread widely in Ceylon. It 

 may be an overlooked native. 



60. DICKffiTARIA, Steitd. 

 A tall, glabrous, slender, perennial grass; 1. long, narrow, 



