Oct. 20, 1927.] Revision of the Ftora of the Bombay Presidency 293 



upwards between the gaping glumes, equalling or slightly exceeding them, 

 obovoid, 4*2 mm. long, more or less orange ; embryo-mark and nerves obscure. 

 Pedicelled spikelet neuter, persistent, linear-lanceolate, acute, 5 - 3 mm. long and 

 more, reddish, lower involucral glume up to 11-, upper 7-nerved. 



Locality : Mahratta Country (Young, ex Stapf). 



Distribution : Abyssinia, tropical Arabia. 



Note : According to Stapf the specimen from India is a smaller variety of the 

 type just described. 



3. Sorghum purpureo-sericeum, Aschers. & Schweinf. in Schweinf, Beitr. 

 Fl. Aethiop. 302, 306 ; Stapf in Fl. Trop. Afr., ix, 1^0. —Andropogon purpureo- 

 sericeus, Hochst. ex A. Rich. Tent. FL Abyss, ii (1851), 469 ; Hack, in Monogr. 

 Androp. 524 ; Hook. f. in F. B. I. vii, 185 ; Cke. ii, 984. 



Description : Cke. I.e. 



Locality: Gujarat: GarviDangs, in a field (Herb. Econ. Bot. Poona!).— 

 Khandesh (Herb. Econ. Bot. Poona!); Bhusawal (McCann 5224 !).— Deccan : 

 Poona, above the Ghats (teste W. Burns).— S. M. Country : Kolhapur (Wood- 

 row !) ; Belgaum (Ritchie 887).— Kanara : N. Kanara ( Woodrow 40 ! ) . 



Distribution : Central Provinces, W. Peninsula, tropical Africa. 



4. Sorghum niddum, Pers. Synops. i, 101 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa 1034. 

 —Andropogon nitidus, Kunth, Revis. Gram, i, 166.— A. serratus, Thunb. Fl. 

 Jap. 41 ; Hack, in Monogr. Androp. 520.— Anatherum nitidum, Spreng. Syst. 

 i, 290.— Andropogon fuscus, J. S. Presl in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Haenk. i, 342.— 

 A. consimilis, Steud. Syn. i, 394.— A. pedicellatus, Steud. 1. c. 394. — Holcus 

 fulvus, R. Br. Prodr. 199.— Sorghum fulvttm, Beauv. ap. Roem. et. Schult. 

 Syst. ii, 840. —Chrysopogon fuscus, Trin. in Steud. Nomencl. ed. 2, 360. 



Description : A tall tufted grass, l-2'4 m. high, densely villous at the nodes. 

 Leaves 10-75 cm. by 8-20 mm., setaceously acuminate, glabrous or sparsely hairy 

 on both surfaces, hairs often tubercle-based, midrib broad, prominent, white ; 

 sheaths terete below, keeled upward, more or less hairy ; mouth silky-villous ; 

 ligule very short, truncate. Panicle 10-30 cm. long, oblong, lax, subsimple, 

 rhachis glabrous, branches capillary, about equalling the spikes, glabrous or 

 scaberulous, whorls distant. Spikes 8-37 mm. long, red-brown ; joints and 

 pedicels % to f the length of the sessile spikelets, margins shortly villous. Sessile 

 spikelets broadly ellipsoid, callus rounded (Haines), or acute (Hook. f.). 

 Lower involucral glume coriaceovis, broadly oblong or elliptic acute or obtuse,, 

 dorsally flattened with incurved margins, brown-hairy and keels hispid, 7- 

 nerved, or about 3-nerved between keels, sometimes nearly black, polished. 

 Upper involucral glume broadly cymbiform with rounded back, lanceolate, 

 acute, 1-nerved, hairy upwards. Lower floral glume as long as or shorter than 

 the upper involucral glume, hyaline, margins inrolled, 2-keeled, ciliate ; upper 

 floral glume linear-oblong, 2-lobed, awned or not. Pedicellate spikelet linear- 

 oblong, pale or greenish with brown hairs. Lower involucral glume oblong, 

 rounded or sub-truncate, dorsally depressed and 2-nerved between the keels ; 

 upper equal, rather narrower, obtuse margins much inflexed, 3-nerved between 

 keels. Lower floral glume hyaline, linear. 



Locality : Kanara : Tinai (Talbot 2574 !) ; Sambiani (Talbot 1337 !) ; Sirsi 

 to Sidderpur (Hallberg and McCann A 270 !). 



Distribution : India, Ceylon, Nicobars, Asia, tropical Australia. 



5. Sorghum vulgare, Pers. Syn. i, 101 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa 1033. 

 —Andropogon Sorghum, Brot. Fl. Lus. i, 88. 



Description : Stout, usually tall annual grasses. Leaves broadly linear with 

 a prominent white midrib. Panicle usually thyrsiform decompound with 

 crowded whorls of erect branches and branchlets, rarely subeffuse. Rhachis of 

 spike tenaceous, joints when forcibly separated leaving a ragged scar at the tip. 

 Pedicelled spikelets usually neuter, pedicels short. 



This is the Great Millet or Jowar, cultivated in most parts of the Presidency. 

 (See H. H. Mann, Fodder Crops of W. India. Dept. Agr. Bombay, Bull. 

 11 of 1916, and G. L. Kottur, Classification and Description of the Jowars 

 of the Bombay Karnatik, Dept. Agr. Bombay Bull. 92 and others.) 



After what we have said above we do not consider it advisable to enter into a 

 description of the numerous varieties and torms. But we may mention in this 

 place that a variety common in the Presidency, viz. S. vulgare var. Roxburghii^ 

 Hackel in Monogr. Androp. 510 has been described as a species by Stapf under 



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