Halofiyrum.~\ Graminece. 299 



glabrous, auricles small, glabrous, ligule a narrow ridge; 

 panicle 8-10 in., rhachis very slender; spikelets rather distant, 

 \-\ in. long, ovate or shortly oblong, nearly white, 12-30-fld. ; 

 glumes very membranous, turgid, I ovate-oblong, obtuse, II 

 broadly ovate, fig. glumes orbicular-ovate, obtuse, palea very 

 shortly winged, wings scabrid; grain oblong, striate, and 

 loosely reticulate. 



Ceylon (Walker). Western Province, Kurunegala (Trimen). Central 

 Province, Galagama, below Horton Plains (Thwaites). 



Endemic. 



This, E. secunda and E. coromandeliana are very imperfectly dia- 

 gnosed, from the material in Herb. Peraden. and Herb. Kew. being 

 insufficient. They are possibly not all distinct. 



68. HALOPYRUW, Stapf. 



A stout, rigid, perennial, glabrous grass; rootstock stout, 

 creeping, with vermiform tomentose roots, internodes solid ; 

 1. almost filiform, convolute, finely acuminate, smooth, infl. 

 an elongate compressed panicle, with short, alternate, spici- 

 form branches ; spikelets large, ovoid, many-Ad., not articulate 

 at the base, sessile or shortly pedicelled on the short branches 

 of the panicle, strongly laterally compressed, rhachilla very 

 short between the fig. glumes, articulate at the base; glumes 

 coriaceous, I and II unequal, oblong-lanceolate, acute, empty, 

 persistent, I 1-3-veined, II larger, 5-veined, fig. glumes 6-20, 

 ovate-oblong, cymbiform, acute, 3-veined, dorsally rounded, 

 callus short, silkily bearded, palea as long as the glume, 

 chartaceous, keels scaberulous; lodicules cuneate or obcordate, 

 truncate top irregularly toothed ; stam. 3, anth. long, slender ; 

 styles short, distant at the base, stigmas not long, laterally 

 exserted; grain oblong or ellipsoid, compressed, more or less 

 concavo-convex, free within the glumes, embryo large. — 

 Monotypic. 



H. mucronatum, Stapf in Hook. Ic. PL t. 2448 (1896). 

 Eragrostis mucronata, Trim. Cat. PI. Ceyl. 109. Triticum repens, 

 Thw. Enum. 376. C. P. 924. 

 Fl. B. Ind. vii. 328. 



Rootstock sending up hard woody stems 12-18 in. high 

 and as thick as a crow-quill, smooth, shining, branches often 

 fascicled and clothed at the base with pale, coriaceous, shining, 

 mucronate sheaths; 1. 8-12 in., rarely flat, glaucous, coriaceous 

 striate, quite smooth, as are the usually involute margins, base 



