Centotheca.} Graminece. 303 



awned neuter glumes ; glumes coriaceous with narrowly- 

 membranous margins, tightly convolute, all persistent, I and 

 II ovate-oblong, obtuse, 5-veined, II rather the longest; fig, 

 glumes \ longer than II, oval, 5-veined, awn \ the length of 

 the glume, rigid, callus very short, naked, palea shorter than 

 the glume, linear, bifid, keels minutely scaberulous; grain \ in, 

 long, fusiform, terete. 



Common in the Western Province, ascending to 4000 ft. (Thwaites), 

 Matelle and Hantane (Gardner). Spikelets green. 



Eastern Himalaya, Khasia, Burma, Malaya, China, N. Guinea. 



2. Zi. zeylanicum, Hook. f. 



L. gracile, Thw. Enum. 374 (in part). C. P. 920. 



Habit, &c, of L. gracile, but not so tall ; 1. 6-9 by |— £ in., 

 linear-lanceolate, acuminate, puberulous above, margins sca- 

 berulous, base cuneate, petiole \- \ m -> sheaths pubescent with 

 spreading hairs, mouth truncate, hairy; panicle 8-10 in., 

 spiciform branches many, short, i-i| in. long, erect, lowest 

 longer; spikelets \ in. long, laterally compressed, imbricating, 

 base shortly bearded, rhachilla as in L. gracile, but bearing 

 only 2-3 neuter awned spikelets; glume I nearly orbicular, 

 5-veined, margins hirsutely ciliate with long hairs, II nearly 

 twice as long, broadly ovate, obtuse, 7-veined, glabrous, fig. 

 glume as in L. gracile but 9-veined. 



Ceylon (Walker). Woods of the S. of the Island (Thwaites), Pasdun. 

 Korale (Gardner). Spikelets green. 



Endemic. 



A very different species from, though in many respects closely re- 

 sembling, L. gracile. It is readily distinguishable by its smaller size, 

 narrow leaves, hairy sheaths, short spikes, crowded spikelets bearded at 

 the base, short bearded glume I, and few neuter glumes. 



72. CENTOTHECA, Desv. 

 Tall, leafy, perennial grasses ; 1. broadly oblong or lan- 

 ceolate, veins trabeculate; spikelets 1-3-fld., alt. and secund 

 on the long spiciform capillary branches of a lax subsimple 

 panicle, not articulate at the base, laterally compressed, all 

 perfect or one or more upper neuter, rhachilla slender, 

 articulate at the base and between the flg. glumes, not 

 produced beyond the uppermost; glumes I and II distant 

 at their insertions, ovate-oblong, empty, persistent, 3-veined, 

 II largest, fig. glumes broadly ovate, obtuse, apiculate, 

 dorsally rounded, 7-veined, naked or the upper usually 

 bearing above the middle soft, erect, at length defiexed 

 tubercle-based spines, palea narrow, keels ciliolate; lodicules 



