286 Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXXIl, No. 2. [Oct. 20, 1927. 



cutting-. (According- to Hole the midrib in basal leaves occupies at. base 

 i or less of the width of the blade). Upper cauline leaves becoming folded 

 and filiform. Leaf-sheaths glabrous. Ligule truncate with a ring or tuft of 

 long silky hairs 6-25 mm. distance from its base. Panicle 60 cm. to 1'2 m. 

 long, pink, white or silvery, diffuse while flowering, with smooth glabrous 

 axis, main branches tufted on the axis, tufts alternate cr subverticillate. 

 Spikelets 2'5-3"7 mm. long, much shorter than the internodes of the spike. 

 Pedicel^ to equal the length of the sessile spikelet. Joint usually longer than 

 sessile spikelet ; majority of pedicels shorter than proper joint. Callus-hairs 

 pale, not dense, as long as spikelet (according to Hole shorter than or subequal 

 to spikelet) . Hairs of joint overtop the joint by less than to 1| times the length 

 of the joint. Sessile spikelet : Lower involucral glume chartaceous, dorsally 

 sparsely villous, villi overtopping the glume by about H the length of the 

 glume. Upper involucral glume chartaceous, not villous dorsally. Lower 

 floral glume not villous dorsally. Mucro of upper floral glume not exserted 

 beyond apex of spikelet. Pale ciliate. Pedicelled spikelet : Involucral glumes 

 dorsally villous, villi overtopping spikelet by 1-1^ times the length of the spikelet. 

 Spikelet sometimes 2-3-flowered with 1-2 additional paleate glumes inside the 

 floral glumes. 



Locality : Cultivated in gardens. 



Distribution : Bengal, Assam, Burma, extending into China. It is a 

 native of the evergreen zone of India characterized by a rainfall exceeding 70 

 in., but is frequently cultivated in gardens throughout India. (Hole). 



4.Saccharum raunja, Roxb Fl. Ind. i (1832), 246 ; Hole in Ind. For. Memoirs, I 

 <1911), 62 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa 1013.— S. Sara, Roxb. 1. c. 244 — 

 S-ciliare, Anders, in Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forhand. Stockh. (1855), 

 155 ; Hackel Monogr, Androp. 118, excl. vars. Griffithii et Boissieri.—S 

 arundinaceum. Hook. f. in F. B. I., vii, 119 {partim) .—S. arundinaceum, var. 

 ciliare, Haines in FL Chota Nagpur. 



For explanation of above synonymy see Hole, 1. c. 65-67. 



Description : An erect grass, attaining a height of 5'5 m. and 12 mm. 

 diam., pale straw-coloured, smooth, striate, solid. Leaf-sheath shortly silky 

 at extreme base, otherwise quite smooth, striate, pale straw-coloured, villous 

 on margins at apex with long white hairs usually much longer than proper 

 internode, uppermost sheath sometimes extending beyond the base of the 

 panicle. Upper leaf of flowering culm 22-70 cm. long, flat, tapering from the 

 base, long-acuminate, 5-10 mm. broad. Lower leaves up to 2 and 2'4 m. by 

 25 mm., but usually only 18 mm. broad. In basal leaves the concave midrib 

 occupies \ or more of width of blade. Colour glaucous, midrib white. Margin 

 scabrid as are one or more intramarginal nerves below, otherwise smooth, but 

 densely white villous at base behind the ligule. Ligule truncate, usually a 

 narrow membranous rim, of upper leaves longer, attaining 3 mm., minutely 

 silky dorsally and ciliate. Flowering panicle 30-90 cm. long, usually lanceo- 

 late, pale cream-coloured to dark reddish-purple, branches spreading. Fruit- 

 ing panicle oblong, branches appressed to the axis, white to greyish-white. 

 Primary rhachis glabrous, sulcate, more or less scabrid on the ridges. 

 Primary branches subverticillate, compound. Ultimate branchlets triquetrous, 

 more or less villous with long white hans on angles and on two faces. Spikelets 

 in pairs, one pedicelled and one sessile on the capillary jointed branches and 

 branchlets of a terminal panicle, awnless, lanceolate, up to 5 mm. long ; sessile 

 and pedicelled similar, each one-flowered and hermaphrodite. Pedicelled 

 fruiting spikelet falling from the pedicel, the sessile spikelet falling later with 

 the attached pedicel and joint of axis. Joint of axis triquetrous, i to subequal 

 the sessile spikelet, but usually shorter than the spikelet, villous on two faces 

 and on margins, the villi overtopping the joint by once to twice the length of 

 the joint. Pedicels triquetrous, \-% the length of the sessile spikelet, villous 

 with long white hairs on two faces and on the angles. Most pedicels shorter 

 than proper joint, rarely subequal to the proper joint. Sessile spikelets : 

 Lower involucral glume lanceolate, chartfc;ous, with two strong lateral nerves 

 and usually 1-4 more or less distinct additional nerves, dorsally long villous 

 on basal half or two-thirds, the hairs overtopping the glume by about the 

 length of the glume, scabrid dorsally on keels, margin inflexed, sparsely 

 ciliate above, apex minutely bidentate to entire. Upper involucral glume 

 subequal to the lower, lanceolate, chartaceous, keeled, with one strong central 



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