Oct. 20, 1927.] Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency 283 



22. Saccharum, Linn., Stapf Fl. Trop. Afr. ix, 94 



The genus as understood by the latest agrostologists comprises also the species 

 which were formerly described under the genus Erianthus, Michx. As already 

 Temarked by Haines in his Flora of Chota Nagpur the awoed upper floral glume 

 of some Saccharum breaks down the only distinction between Saccharum and 

 Erianthus. 



Cooke (ii, 948) mentions 3 species of Saccharum : T. spontaneum-, Linn.,, 

 ■5". arundinaceunt, Retz. and 6". officiuarum, Linn. To these we add ►S. Munja, 

 Roxb and 5". Griffithi, Munro. The two species of Erianthus, observed in the 

 Presidency, viz. E. Ravenna?, Beauv. and E. fastigiatus, Nees, will be trans- 

 ferred to Saccharum. 



General characters of Saccharum : Perennial tall herbs. Leaves various. 

 Panicle large, often silvery-silky and showy, spikelets usually surrounded by 

 long silky hairs from the base, all alike, binate, one sessile, the other pedicelled 

 •on the articulate fragile rhachis of panicled racemes, the pedicelled falling from 

 their pedicels, the sessile deciduous together with the contiguous joint of the 

 rhachis and pedicel. Florets 2, the lower reduced to an empty valve, the upper 

 hermaphrodite. Involucral glumes equal, often chartaceous to subcoriaceous 

 towards the base, membranous to subhyaline upwards ; the lower glume with 

 in flexed margins and in the sessile spikelet usually with an even number of nerves ; 

 upper glume 1-, 3-, or 5-nerved. Floral glumes hyaline ; upper with a terminal 

 bristle-like usually straight awn, or mucronate, or muticous, or 0. Lodicules 2, 

 cuneate. Stamens 3. Stigmas laterally exserted. Grain oblong to subglobose ; 

 embryo short to half the length of the grain or more ; hilum basal. 



Key to the species, mainly after Haines. 



A, Awn of upper floral glume not or scarcely exserted from spikelets or 0, 

 I. Hairs on callus of sessile spikelet much exceeding the spikelets 



1. Culms not leafy above, under 17 mm. diam. 



Leaves under 20 mm. broad. Lower In- 

 volucral glumes ciliate ... ... 1. S. spontaneum. 



2. Culms densely leafy above, over 25 mm. 



diam. Leaves over 25 mm. broad. Lower 

 Involucral glumes glabrous ... 2. S. officinarum. 



IL Hairs on callus of sessile spikelet shorter or not 

 much longer than spikelet 



1. Upper involucral glume of sessile spikelet 



not villous dorsally 



(a) Foliage not glaucous. Culms densely 

 leafy above. Sessile spikelet shorter than 



internodes of rhachis ... ... ... 3. S . arundinaceum^ 



(b) Foliage glaucous. Culms not leafy above 



Sessile spikelet longer than internodes 



of rhachis ... ... ... ... 4. S. munja. 



2. Upper involucral glume of sessile spikelet 



villous dorsally ... ... ... 5. S. Griffithii. 



B. Awn of upper floral glume distinctly exserted 



from the spikelet 

 L Panicles thyrsiform. Spikelets 3-4 mm. long. 



Awn 2-5 to almost 6 mm. long ... ... 6. S. Ravenna. 



II. Panicles not thyrsiform. Spikelets 4 to almost 



5 mm. long. Awn S mm. long ... 7. S. fastigiatum. 



In the following treatment of the various species we shall draw largely on R. 

 'S. Hole, On some Indian Forest Grasses and their Oecology, in Indian Forest, 

 Memoirs, vol. i, pt. 1 (1911), 50-91. 



1. Saccharum spontaneum, Linn. Mant. (1771), 183 ; Roxb. Fl. Ind. i (1832), 

 235 ; Griff. Ic. PL As. t. 139, f. 63 ; Dalz. and Gibs. 304 ; Duthie Grass. N. W. 

 Ind. 15, Indig. Fodd. Grass. 57, Fodd. Grass. N. India, 25 ; Hack. Monogr, 

 Androp. 113 ; Hook. f. F. B. I. vii, 119 ; Cke. ii, 948 ; Hole in Ind. For. Mem. 

 i, pt. 1, (1911), 50 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa (1924), 1011.— 5. scmidecum- 

 t>ens, Roxb. 1. c. 236.-5. canaliculatum, Roxb. 1. c. 246.-6". chinense, Nees in 

 Hook, et Am. Beechy's Voy. 241.— 6". cegyptiacum var. sinense, Anders, in 

 Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forhand. Stockh. (1855), 157 (non S. sinense, Roxb.). 

 — S. spontaneum, Linn, subsp. cegyptiacum var. nepalense, Hackel, 1. c. 116.— 

 Rheede Hort. Malab. xii, t. 46 (probably). 



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