■Eragrostis.] Graminece. 291 



rhachilla articulate, glabrous, disarticulating from above 

 downwards ; glumes about -^ in- long, orbicular-ovate, very- 

 obtuse, membranous, deciduous, mid-vein percurrent (not 

 excurrent), lateral veins marginal, \-% as long as the glume, 

 keels of palea more or less pectinately ciliate, cilia longer or 

 shorter than the palea is broad ; stam. 3, anth. minute; grain 

 ovoid, ¥ V in. long. 



A very variable plant. The following forms are more or less dis- 

 tinguishable amongst the specimens in Herb. Peraden. 



Var. 1, tenella proper. 



Very slender, eglandular, panicle narrow, branches suberect ; spikelets 

 few-fid., long-pedicelled, erect, very minute, ^— jV in. long ; palea shortly 

 and irregularly ciliate. — C. P. 926 (in part). Exactly resembles Bur- 

 mann's, Fl. Zeyl. t. 47, f. 3, which is Linnasus's authority for Poa ama&ilis. 

 C. P. 70. 



Var. 2, plumosa, Stapf in Fl. B. Ind. vii. 315. 



Stem tall and panicle eglandular, panicle 6-8 in., open, branches 

 capillary, spreading, flexuous, lower up to 3 in. ; spikelets 3-9-fid., pedicels 

 long or short; glumes epunctulate, palea pectinately ciliate with long 

 hairs. — E. plumosa, Link, Enum. Hort. Berol. i. 192. Thw. Enum. 373. 

 Tuchie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 64, tt. 38, 77. Poa plumosa, Retz. Obs. iv. 

 20. Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 337. C. P. 926 (in part). 



Var. 3, contracta, Hk. fil. 



Panicle narrower, ovate-oblong, 3-5 by i-i| in., rhachis stouter, axils 

 of branches naked ; spikelets longer, more crowded, shortly pedicelled ; 

 fig. glumes punctulate. C. P. 926 (in part). 



Var. 4, riparia, Stapf, 1. c. 



Stem and panicle eglandular, panicle short, 1-3 by £-J in., very 

 narrow, subcylindric, branches very short, erect, smooth, axils glabrous ; 

 spikelets crowded ; empty glumes very unequal, I one-third shorter than 

 II, fig. glumes epunctulate. — E. riparia, Willd. ; Steud. Syn. Gram. 265. 

 E. plumosa, var. maritima, Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 109. C. P. 927, 928. 



Var. 5, viscosa, Stapf, 1. c. 



Stem above and rhachis of panicle more or less viscid at the nodes, 

 panicle ovoid-oblong, 2-3 by |-i in., branches spreading, axils glabrous; 

 spikelets shortly pedicelled, 5-12-fid. ; glumes epunctulate. — E. viscosa, 

 Trin. in Mem. Acad. Petersb. Ser. VI. i. 397 (1831). Poa viscosa, Retz.; 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 336. 



Var. 6, densiflora, Hook.f 



Perennial (?) ; stem above and rhachis of panicle more or less viscid 

 at the nodes, panicle 5-3 in., oblong, branches very short, covered with 

 imbricating 10-16-fld. spikelets ; glumes epunctulate, lateral veins distant 

 from the margin, keels of palea shortly ciliate. 



Common throughout the Island, especially vars. 1 and 2. Var. 3, 

 Rama-peram (Gardner) ; Manaar district (Triraen}.: Var. 4, Caltura 

 (Macrae), Jaffna district (Trimen). Var. 5, Manfcsi, Jaffna, growing 

 with Sporobolus orientalis. 



A widely spread species in Tropical Asia. Var> 3 from the Panjab 

 to Malacca. Var. 4, Lower Bengal and southward. Var. 5, Gangetic 

 Plain and southward, Burma. 



