Po7nmereulla?[ Graminece. 285 



hairs, striate, glaucous, midrib obscure, naked or sparsely 

 ciliate, sheaths shorter than the blade, coriaceous, open above, 

 white, ligule a ridge of hairs; spike 1-2 in., of 4-10 distant 

 sessile obconic fascicles of 4-6 spikes, rhachis of spike 

 flexuous, smooth, fascicles spreading or drooping, \-\ in. long, 

 rhachis of fascicles ending in 3 subulate empty glumes; 

 spikelets closely appressed ; glumes I and II empty, about 

 X5- in. long, rigidly coriaceous, gradually narrowed from a 

 villous base into an erect scabrid pungent awn, II with broad 

 hyaline margins towards the base, III articulate at the naked 

 base, about yV in. long, scaberulous above the middle, tip 

 entire or minutely 2-toothed at the base of the short, strict, 

 scabrid awn, IV not articulate on the short, stout, smooth, 

 glabrous rhachilla, about half as large as III, more scaberulous, 

 terminated by 2 strong teeth and a short awn, slender pro- 

 longation of the rhachilla rather thickened upwards, as long 

 as the glumes or longer. 



Mannar district, on the dry mud of tidal flats (Trimen). Spikelets 

 pale green. 



Mysore and the Carnatic. 



63. FOBIlVIEItEUIiLA, Linn. f. 

 A dwarf stoloniferous grass; stems short, erect or ascending, 

 clothed to the base with equitant 1. sheaths; 1. linear; infl. a 

 terminal simple or forked flattened rhachis, bearing at the 

 apex a turbinate fascicle of biseriate, sessile, strongly dorsally 

 compressed, cuneiform, 2-3-fld. spikelets, which are inarticulate 

 at the base; glumes many, I and II narrow, membranous, 

 I i-veined, II 3-veined, III-VII or VIII coriaceous, spirally 

 inserted by a \ amplexicaul base round a stout rhachilla 

 that terminates downwards in a long, subulate, villous callus 

 with a pungent articulate base, III and IV empty, epaleate, 

 embracing the upper, flabelliform, 3-lobed to the middle, 

 dorsally shortly awned, side lobes broadly ovate, spreading 

 and recurved, mid lobe smaller, entire or bifid, V and VI 

 more like II and III, but with the mid lobe hooded, bisexual 

 and paleate, the uppermost imperfect, palea membranous, 

 ovate, acuminate, keels slender, ciliolate; lodicules 2, cunei- 

 form; stam. 2-3, anth. minute, short; ov. obcordate, styles 

 short, bases distant, stigmas very short, laterally exserted; 

 grain loose in the glume and palea, broadly oblong, biconvex 

 or concavo-convex, pericarp loose, hyaline, hilum punctiform, 

 embryo orbicular. — Monotypic. 



