423 Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXXII, No. 3. [Jan. 15, 1928, 



conceived by Hackel he includes only the var. punctatus, subvar. glaber. Haines 

 in his- Bot. Bihar and Orissa, 1028, adopts Stapf 's name Amphilophis glabra with 

 the following synonyms : Andropogon intermedins, R. Br. inc. A. glaber, 

 Roxb., A. punctatus, Roxb. and A. montanus, Roxb. ? 



This is evidently not Stapf 's Amphilophis glabra. Haines includes Andro- 

 pogon intermedins, R. Br., whilst Stapf confines his species to var. punctatus,, 

 Haines has A. punctatus, Roxb. as a synonym, Stapf excludes it expressly. 



Haines' description is much wider than that given by Stapf and includes 

 Haekel's vars. genuinus, Hcenkei, punctatus and glaber, and one of his own 

 var. hirta. He says in a foot-note (p. 1029) : • These varieties are after Hackel 

 and were described before I consulted Stapf 's Gramineae in Fl. Trop. Africa, 

 where he reduces Haekel's intermedins to Roxburgh's glaber. The names (e.g. 

 genuinus) in some cases become inapplicable if Roxburgh's glaber is the type. 

 Var. Hcenkei is, 1 think, a distinct species and easily distinguished in the field. 

 It should be called Amphilophis Hcenkei.' 



Haines seems to overlook the fact that Stapf 's glabra is restricted to one of 

 Haekel's varieties of Andropogon intermedins, viz., punctatus and that, conse- 

 quently not all of Haekel's names can be applicable. 



In our opinion Haines is not justified in calling his species Amphilophis 

 glabra, Stapf. As it includes practically the whole of Andropogon intermedins, 

 R. Br. taken in Haekel's sense he might have called it Amphilophis intermedia t 

 Haines, if that name had not been preoccupied by Stapf (Fl. Trop. Afr. ix„ 

 174). 



We are not arguing the point whether Stapf or Haines is right in the 

 treatment of Andropogon intermedins, R. Br. et auctorum ; good reasons can 

 be adduced for both cases. All we wish to say is that Haines' Amphilophis 

 glabra is not A. glabra, Stapf. 



Those who prefer to adopt Haines' A. glabra and Haekel's varieties might 

 consider a remark made by Hackel himself (I.e. 487) : ' A. fascicularis 

 Thwaites Ennm. PI. Zeyl. p. 437 non Roxb. complectitur varietates 

 [Hcenkei] et 8 [punctatus] formis inlermediis {spiculis in eadem panicula 

 mixtis) conjuncias. Etiam in Bengalia transitus et ipsa varietas J3 [Hcenkei\ 

 proveniunt ; in Himalaya, e. gr. pr. Simlah formce inter 3 [punctatus] et 

 oc [genuinus] intermedin inveniuntur. J 



We adopt Stapf 's conception of A. glabra together with his description. Dr- 

 Stapf was kind enough to name some of our Bombay specimens. 



Description ; Perennial. Rhizome very short, hard, innovations extravagi- 

 nal, cataphylls ovate to lanceolate, acute, hard, smooth. Stems tufted, erect 

 or shortly ascending, to overlm. high, rather stout below, glabrous, 5-7- 

 noded, simple or very sparingly branched. Leaf-sheaths terete, glabrous, 

 smooth, the intermediate and upper mostly shorter than the internodes, nodes 

 glabrous or the upper bearded. Blades linear, long-tapering to a setaceous- 

 point, hardly broader, not or slightiy contracted at the base, up to over 30 cm. 

 by 8*5 mm. (mostly narrower), pale green, often turning reddish or purplish,, 

 glabrous, rarely with very fine, long, spreading, white hairs at and above the 

 ligule, smooth except at the margins, midrib rather stout to very stout down- 

 wards, lateral nerves 3-4 on each side ; ligules truncate, very short, scarious. 

 Panicle narrowly oblong, 10-23 cm. by 25-38 mm., erect, primary axis much 

 longer than the lowest racemes, somewhat stout and (at least when mature) 

 stiff, smooth, shortly bearded at the branch axils, otherwise glabrous and 

 smooth ; branches whorled, up to 6 in a whorl or semiverticillate, or 2-nate or 

 solitary from the weaker nodes, straight, 25-75 mm. long, the longer divided 

 from 12 mm. above the ba.se, few to 7-noded, secondary branches simple. 

 Racemes 12-38 mm. long, straight or flexuous, usually purplish, inconspi- 

 cuously white-villous ; joints and pedicels 2-3*3 mm. long, ciliate, uppermost 

 cilia much longer than the rest, up to 1 mm. long. Sessile spikelet pale green 

 or purplish throughout, including the small minutely bearded callus 3*3-3'8 

 mm. long. Involucral glumes equal ; lower truncate, slightly concave on the 

 back, chartaceous-membranous, hairy below the middle, more rarely glabrous,, 

 keels rigidly ciliolate upwards, intracarinal nervts 4-5, very fine, evanescent 

 upwards with or without a pit above the middle ; upper lanceolate, acute, 3- 

 nerved, keel scabrid upwards, margins sparingly ciliate. Lower floral glume 

 oblong, 2-7 mm. long, hyaline, nerveless, ciliate, upper an awn 6*3-12'7mm. 

 long, brown below, pale above the bend. Pedicelled spikelet neuter, mostly 

 reduced to the glumes, narrowly linear-oblong to linear, 2*7-3*3 mm. long,. 



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