Oct, -20, 1927.] Revision of the -Flora of the Bombay Presidency 2$? 



by 5-10 cm- ; branches erect, mote or less flexuous, rather slender, rough to 

 spinulously ciliate, particularly upwards, ciliate to subvillous at the base, the 

 longest up to one half or one-third the length of the panicle, divided from very 

 low down. Racemes compact, tough, about 8'5 mm. long ;(in flower), mostly 3-or 

 4-noded; joints somewhat stout, flattened, 1 to almost 2 mm. long, "whitish* 

 ciliate ; pedicels similar, but still shorter. Sessile spikelet rhombic-obovoid, 

 subacute (in flower), greenish or straw-coloured with greenish tips, ultimately 

 whitish or variously brown, dark red or black, awned or awnless, callus-beard 

 scanty- Involucral glumes equal, coriaceous up to beyond •§• or §, then papery, 

 unevenly stngillose, particularly at the tips and sides; lower with a broad 

 triangular greenish strongly nerved tip, about I2-nerved with 3 or 4 finer 

 nerves interspersed, 2- keeled upwards (keels rough) , more or less flattened out 

 and very broad to rotundate when mature with the tips worn off and the back 

 glossy; upper broad, 9-nerved with some additional finer nerves, slightly keeled 

 upwards. Floral glumes ciliate ; lower ovate-elliptic, over 4'2 mm- long; upper 

 broad-ovate, 2-toothed,4 , 2 mm. long, awn up to 75 mm- long, mostly much shorter 

 and then hardly twisted and differentiated into column and bristle or quite 

 suppressed. Anthers over 2 mm- long. Grain subgk)bose, slightly compressed, 

 with a broad rounded much exposed top, white, yellow or variously reddish, 

 53 by 53 mm., nerveless, embryo-mark faint. Pedicelled spikelet neuter 

 ( ? always) , persistent ; lanceolate to linear-oblong, subacute, up to 6-3 mm- 

 long, greenish ot reddish, lower 11-, upper 7-nerved- 



Distribution : Nilelmnd of Tropical Africa, Arabia, Afghanistan, India. 



*5- Sorghum papyrascens, Stapf in FL Trop. Afr. ix, 134. 



Only mature panicles were known to Stapf. Culms up to 12 mm. across at the 

 base of the panicle. Panicle erect, oblong to oblanceolate in outline, contracted, 

 dense, up to over 30 cm. by 10-13 cm. ; branches more or less whorled, often 

 many to a whorl, erect, the longer slightly arching, rather robust, like the 

 branchlets rough to spinulously ciliolate upwards and softly ciliate or pubescent 

 In addition, villous at the base or 12 mm- above it, following (longest) up to 15 

 cm. long and undivided for-5-7i cm. from the base. Racemes tough, up to 

 4-noded and 18 mm. long, dense, much crowded ; joints moderately slender, up 

 to over 3-3 mm- long, shortly white-ciliate ; pedicels similar, 1-2-7 mm- long. 

 Sessile spikelet oblong (in flower), at length ovoid or oblong-ovoid, tight or 

 somewhat inflated, closed, up to 9-5 mm. long, permanently pale straw-coloured 

 or reddish ; callus-beard very short Involucral glumes equal, papery and trans- 

 parent throughout ; lower up to 16-nerved with numerous transverse veins, very 

 obscurely keeled upwards or keelless, nerves raised from the base upwards, 

 softly pubescent to almost villous, very imperfectly giabrescent or at length 

 almost glabrous, hairs white ; upper broad, about 13-nerved, very obscurely 

 Reeled upwards, much less hairy- Floral glumes conspicuously ciliate ; lower 

 broad-elliptic, -53 mm. long ; upper broad-ovate, entire and awnless or shortly 

 2-lobed, withamucro or an awn up to 63 (rarely 106) mm. long, usually 

 slightly bent and hardly twisted- Lodicules densely ciliate. Grain completely 

 enclosed by the glumes or partly exposed by their breaking up, obovate to 

 orbicular-obovate in outline, compressed, biconvex, dull white or orange; 

 embryo-mark faint, elliptic, slightly exceeding the middle of the grain. Pedicelled 

 spikelet neuter, reduced to the involucral glumes, persistent, linear or linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, pale straw-coloured or reddish, 6- 3-8*5 mm- long, lower H-13-, 

 mpper 9-nerved, shorter- 



Distribution : Nileland of tropical Africa- Also known from India- 



* 6. Sorgbcm cerrraum. Host- Gram- Austr- iv, t- 3 ; Reichb. Ic- Fl- Germ, (1845,) 

 t- 80, fig- 466 ; Stapf in FL Trop- Afr. ix, 136—HoUus Sorghum, Linn. Sp- 

 PI. ed- 1, 1047 (partim) ; Mant ii, 500- — H. Dora, Mieg- in Act- Helv- viii 

 <1777), 125, t- 4, fig- 3— H -cernum, Ard- in Saggi se e lett Acad. Padovai, 

 128, t- iii, fig. 1 and 2-—//. compactus , Lam. Rncycl. iii, lAQ.—Andropogon 

 compactus, Brot Fl- Lus. i, 88-—^. cernuus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i, 213— A^ Sorghum 

 var- cernuus, Koern. in Koern- & Wern. Handb. Getreideb. i, 314.— A. Sorghum 

 subsp- sativus, var. cernuus, Hack, in Monogr- Androp. 515- 



Description : An annual- Culms stout. 3-4 m- high and more, 20-30-noded- 

 Leaf-sheaths minutely pubescent at the nodes ; ligules very short, densely 

 ciliate from the back ; blades linear-lanceolate, over 30 cm- by 6 cm., pale 

 green, pubescent to tomentose inside above the ligule and outside at the junction 

 with the sheath- Panicle erect or recurved, ovoid to oblong, very compact or 



