294 Gramineee. [Eragrosiis. 



narrowed, sheaths coriaceous, smooth, mouth hardly auricled, 

 glabrous or bearded, ligule a ridge of very minute hairs; 

 panicle 3-6 in., inclined, ovate or oblong, rhachis slender, 

 quite smooth, branches long, solitary, suberect, filiform, 

 flexuous, scaberulous, naked below; spikelets alt. but rather 

 crowded, mostly shortly pedicelled, \-\ by rr~rir in -> ovate- 

 oblong, grey-green, 30-40-fld., rachilla stout, tough, glabrous, 

 internodes very short; glumes closely punctulate, I and II 

 ovate-oblong, subacute, i-veined, II one-third longer than I, 

 fig. glumes broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, subacute, palea 

 obovate-oblong, truncate, deciduous, keels scaberulous ; stam. 

 3, anth. almost half as long as the palea, yellow; grain oblong, 

 about ^V in. long, striolate, yellow-brown. 



Very abundant throughout the Island; on dry sand, also in water 

 (Ferguson). 



Throughout India, S. Africa. 



The above description is taken from the Herb. Peraden. specimens of 

 Thwaites, C. P. 931 (E. Brownii), with which Gardner's specimens cited 

 in FLB. Ind. (E. elegantula) agree. In that work, C. P. 931 is referred 

 to E. elongata, and E. zeylanica to E. elegans. These three species, 

 E. gangetica, ste?iofthylla, and elegantula, are very closely allied, some 

 specimens of each are with difficulty distinguished in the dried state, and 

 their synonymy is almost hopelessly entangled. The name elegantula 

 was proposed by Kunth for Roxburgh's Poa elegans, which that author 

 describes as a very elegant delicate grass, with 8-12-fld. purplish spikelets, 

 and globular grains. These characters are foreign to the plant here 

 described, which is a tall, stiff, wiry grass, easily recognised, according to 

 Ferguson, by its glaucous metallic hue. 



5. E. stenophylla, Hochst. ex Miq. Analect. Bot. hid. ii. 27 (1851). 



E. orie?italis, Nees; Thw. Enum. 2,73 (partim). C. P. 925 (partim), 932. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 318. Duthie, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. t. 74 (E. elegantula). 



Perennial ; stems densely tufted, 12-18 in., slender or rather 

 stout, erect or geniculately ascending, simple or branched, 

 upper internodes very long; 1. 3-5 in., very narrow, strict, 

 rather stiff, complicate or convolute, rarely flat, smooth, quite 

 glabrous, not glaucous, sheaths smooth, auricles glabrous or 

 bearded, ligule of most minute hairs; panicle suberect or 

 nodding, 3-8 in. long, effuse or contracted, rhachis very 

 slender, smooth, branches long, subsolitary, rather distant, 

 capillary, smooth, naked below, much divided upwards, axils 

 glabrous, eglandular ; spikelets T V- i by y^-ts ^ n -> ovate to 

 linear-oblong, 10-30-fld., pale olive-green, longer or shorter 

 than their capillary pedicels, rhachilla slender, tough, flexuous; 

 glumes membranous, punctulate, I and II ovate, subacute, 

 i-veined, II one half longer than I, fig. glumes broadly ovate, 

 subacute, keels smooth, palea linear-oblong, caducous with the 

 glumes, keels ciliolate; stam. 3, anth. about one-third the 



