Eragrostis.] Graminecs. 297 



Annual (?), densely tufted; stems 4-18 in., slender, genicu- 

 lately ascending, leafy at the base chiefly; 1. 2-3 in., erect, 

 very narrow, rrnrV m -> smooth, margins involute, sometimes 

 glandular, sheaths smooth or margins ciliate, auricles naked 

 or bearded with long, soft, white hairs, ligule a ridge of short 

 hairs; panicle erect, 2-4 in., ovate, open, rhachis slender, 

 smooth, branches few, solitary, distant, spreading, capillary, 

 axils glabrous, eglandular, branchlets spreading; spikelets 

 longer than their pedicels, linear, \-\ by -^ in., 10-20-fld., 

 olive-grey or yellowish, rhachilla firm, fiexuous, smooth; 

 glumes hyaline, keels smooth, I and II very unequal, ovate, 

 obtuse, I veinless, II 1 -veined, fig. glumes broadly ovate, 

 obtuse, epunctate, lateral veins near the margins, palea linear- 

 oblong, persistent, keels minutely scaberulous ; stam. I, anth. 

 very minute, yellow; grain about 7 V in. long, subquadrate or 

 subglobose, truncately rounded at both ends, laterally com- 

 pressed, red-brown. 



Trincomalie (Glenie) ; Punakari, Jaffna district (Trimen). 

 Also in Mysore. 



10. 22. major, Host, Gram. Austriac. iv. 14 (iJ 

 E. megastachya, Link, Hort. Berol. i. 187; Thw. Enum. 373. C. P. 

 3 J 63- 



Fl. B. Ind. vii. 320. Host, 1. c. t. 24. Reichb. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 91. 



Annual; stems 1-3 ft, usually stout and branched, leafy, 

 erect or geniculately ascending, smooth, polished; 1. up to 

 8 by i in., narrowed into filiform tips, flaccid, smooth, margins 

 obscurely scaberulous, base rounded, veins many, sheaths 

 smooth, auricles villously bearded, ligule of rather long hairs; 

 panicle up to 8 in., erect, oblong or ovate-oblong, rhachis 

 strict, rather stout, smooth, branches numerous, fascicled and 

 whorled, spreading or suberect, again branching from the 

 base, branchlets short, capillary; spikelets longer than their 

 pedicels, usually crowded, ovate and ^— \ in. long, with 6-8 

 glumes, to linear-oblong, rather narrowed upwards and |-| in. 

 long, with many up to 60 glumes, olive-grey or yellowish, 

 rhachilla tough, zigzag, internodes short, smooth ; empty 

 glumes unequal, aristately acuminate, I ovate, 1 -veined, II 

 much larger, orbicular-ovate, 3-veined, lateral veins short, 

 fig. glumes orbicular, obtuse, cupular, punctulate, lateral veins 

 long, arched, palea broadly oval, keels ciliate; anth. 3, very 

 minute; grain globose, minutely rugulose, about -jV in. diam., 

 red-brown. 



Hot drier parts of the Island; common. 



S. Europe, Trop. and Subtrop. Asia. 



A very variable grass in India, both in panicle and foliage. The 



