Oct. 20, 1927.] Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency 285 



The callus-hairs H-3| times as long as the spikelets. The fruiting 



panicle elongate-elliptic to oblong 'with its branches usually more 



persistent than in other forms. 

 (c) The loam-form, intermediate between (a) and (b). The culms are 



more or less decumbent at the base and not tufted, but less robust 



and with longer callus-hairs than in (b). 

 Locality: Sind: Shikarpur (Woodrow) ; Mirpur Sakro (Blatter and McCann 

 D697 \). — Gujarat : Baroda (Cooke) ; Domas near Surat (Dalzell and Gibson), 

 —Khandesh : Dadgaum (McCann 9892 !) ; Northern slope of Chanseli (McCann 

 9893!); Bor, Bori River (Blatter and Hallberg 4422 !);— Konkan : Kamana, 

 Mahim (Ryan 2205 !); Sakwar, river side (Ryan ? 2080 !); Bassein (Ryan 4 !); 

 Karj at (Woodrow), on river bank (McCann!); Vihar Lake (McCann 9,894 !) ; 

 Alibag, sandy shore (Ezekiel !) .—Deccan : Igatpuri, on bauks of bund (McCann 

 4334!); Poona, river bank (Woodrow). — 5. M. Country : Banks of streams, 

 common in the S. Dharwar District (Sedgwick and Bell 3693 !); Haveri (Talbot 

 2236 !); Castle Rock (Gammie 15743 !, McCann !); Belgaum (Ritchie) .-Kanara : 

 Suppa, bed of Kala Nuddi (Talbot 2196 !) ; Hullikal (Talbot 1348 !). 



Distribution of the species, irrespective of the varieties : Africa (Upper 

 Guinea, Nile Land, Mozambique District), Lower Egypt, Arabia, Syria, 

 Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, Burma, China, Java, Philippines, New Guinea, 

 Australia. 



Uses : A favourite fodder of buffaloes. The leaves are used for thatching 

 and brooms. Valuable as a fixing agent for shifting sand and unstable soil. 

 For 5". spontaneum as a potential source of paper plup see W. H. Brown and 

 A. F. Fischer. Philippine forest products as sources of paper pulp, in Forest. 

 Bur. Philipp. Islds. Bull. 16 (1918). 



* 2. Saccharutn officinarum, Linn. Sp. PI. ed 1, 54 ; Roxb. Fl. Tnd., i, 237 ; 

 Beauv. Agrost. Explan. planch. 5, t. iv, fig. 10 ; Hack. Monogr. Androp. Ill ; 

 Hook. f. in F. B. I. vii, 118 ; Cke. ii, 948 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa 1012 ; 

 Stapf Fl. Trop. Afr. ix, 96. 



Description : Stems up to 6 m. high, many-noded, glabrous or pubscent 

 below the panicle, more or less coated w r ith wax below the nodes. Leaf-sheaths 

 tight, terete, smooth, glabrous except when young ; ligules very short, mem- 

 branous, ciliate ; blades linear-lanceolate, up to 1*5 m. long and over 5 cm. broad 

 green above, glaucous below, more or less scabnd along the margins, midrib 

 very stout, rounded on the back, more or less flat above. Panicles pyramidal, up 

 to 1 m. long, dense, silvery ; primary rhachis glabrous except on the pubescent 

 nodes, or more or less silky ; primary branches verticillate or semiverticillate, 

 very slender, glabrous or hairy. Racemes up to 10 cm. long, very fragile ; joints 

 and pedicels filiform, more or less ciliate or glabrous, the joints variable in 

 length, the pedicels much shorter. Spikelets lanceolate, up to 4*2 mm. long, 

 surrounded from the callus by a tuft of long silky hairs up to 9 mm. long. In- 

 volucral glumes subequal, lanceolate, firm towards the base, otherwise subhyaline 

 the lower acute, 2-nerved to sub-4-nerved, glabrous, the upper very similar 

 1-3-nerved, glabrous or ciliolate Lower floral glume oblong, acute or subacute, 

 hyaline, nerveless, ciliate, about 33 mm. long, upper floral glume subacute, 

 ciliate, as long as the lower or 0. Pale, if present, very minute, obovate, ciliate. 

 Lodicules broad, cuneate, sparingly ciliolate from the top. Stigmas purplish. 

 2*1 mm. long. Grain oblong, attenuated upwards, subterete, flesh-coloured ; 

 embryo \ the length of the grain. 



Locality : Grown throughout the Presidency. 



Origin: — There are many indications that S. Asia is the original home of 

 the sugarcane. 



* 3. Saccharum arundinaceum, Retz Obs. bot. fasc. IV (1786), 14; Hackel 

 Monogr. Androp. 117, excl. syn. 5". exaltatum ; Hook. f. in F. B. I., vii. 119 

 excl. syn. 5": ciliare, Anders., S. exaltatum, Roxb., S. munja, Roxb., .S. Sara 

 Roxb.; Cke ii, 918, excl. syn. 5". exaltatum, Roxb.; Haines Bot. Bihar and 

 Orissa, 1012. S. bengalense, Retz. 1. c. v., 16. .S". procerum, Roxb. Fl. Ind., i, 243. 



Description: A gigantic tufted grass. Culms biennial (? or triennial), 

 somewhat with the habit of the sugarcane, branched, often 5 m. high, the 

 flowering culms sometimes nearly 9 m. high and over 18 mm. diam., solid. 

 Stem glabrous, smooth, or slightly rough with very long internodes. Blade 

 reaching 1*8 m. in length and 5 cm. in breadth, with rib stout and as broad 

 as the blade at base, keeled below, villous with long silky hairs above, margins 



[5] 



