27 Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc , Vol. XXXII, No. 1. [Aug. 1, 1927. 



Racemes compressed, often curved, tips more on ess subulate from the slender 

 terminal spikelet ; rhachis not or tardily breaking up. Spikelets pseudo-opposite 

 owing to the fusion of joints and pedicels, each pair made up of a sessile 

 (secondary) spikelet and the pedicelled companion of the sessile spikelet of tie 

 next lower node. Spikelets two-nate on the tough or tardily disarticulating 

 rhachis of spike-like, spathe-supported racemes which terminate the culms and 

 their often fascicled branches, alike in sex and shape, or at least similar ; joints 

 and pedicels fused into roughly sernicvlindrie internodes r hollowed out on the 

 inner face for the reception of the sessile spikelet ; disarticulation at a right 

 angle to the rhachis or slightly oblique, tips of joints truncate, not hollowed out 

 orappendaged. Sessile spikelet : Florets 2, lower reduced to a barren valve, 

 upper bisexual,, awnless. Glumes equal or subequal, lower flat on the back, 

 2-keeled, very narrowly inflexed along the margins, coriaceous or subcoriaceous, 

 closing up the cavity formed by the adjacent joint and pedicel, upper 

 membranous, adhering to the inner face of the cavity. Valves hyaline,, of lower 

 floret 2-nerved, of upper usually nerveless. Valvule of upper floret hyaline, 

 small, nerveless. Lodicules 2, cuneate. Stamens 3. Stigmas laterally exserted. 

 Grain oblong, dorsally slightly compressed ; embryo about ^ the length of the 

 grain : hilum conspicuous, punctiform, subbasal. Pedicelled spikelet with more 

 elongated acuminate glumes, especially the terminal, the upper glume 

 mucronate or aristate. 



Species about 8. Throughout the warm countries- of the Old World, 1 also 

 in America, but probably introduced. 



1. Hemarthria glabra, comb. nov. Blatter and McCann. Rottboellia 

 glabra, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ed. Carey i, 353. Hemarthria coromandelina, Steud. 

 Syn. i, 353. Rottboelia compressa, Linn. f. Suppl. 114, var. genuina, Hack. 

 Monogr. Androp. 286; Hook. f. in F.B.I, vii, 153. Rottboellia compressa, 

 Linn. f. Suppl. 114, partim ; Cke. ii, 952, partim. Hemarthria compressa T 

 Kunth Enum. i, 465, partim. 



A word of explanation is required regarding the new name. Haines in his 

 Botany of Bihar and Orissa, pt. VI (1924), 1061, mentions a species under the 

 name of Hemarthria compressa, R. Br. and gives as synonym Rottboellia com- 

 pressa, Linn. f. which, in our opinion, is not correct. Hemarthria compressa, R 

 Br. Prodr. Floras Novas Hollandiaa etinsuke Van Diemen, p. 207, represents only 

 partly Rottboellia compressa, Linn. f. Besides, Stapf in. FL Trop. Afr. ix, 55 has 

 separated Rottboellia compressa, Linn. f. var. fasciculata from the type and 

 described it under the specific name Hemarthria fasciculata, Kunth Rev. Gram. 

 i, 153. He was allowed to use this old name, because Hemarthria fasciculata 

 is the same plant as Hackel's var. fasciculata (Monogr. Androp. 287.) As to 

 the species under consideration, it coincides with Hackel's Rottboellia compressa 

 Linn. var. genuina. With this Hemarthria compressa, Kunth Enum. i, 465 

 agrees only partly and this name cannot, therefore, be adopted. There are 

 only two names left which can be considered : Rottboellia glabra and 

 Hemarthria coromandelina. Of these the former is the older and should, there- 

 fore, be retained, but as the species is being transferred to the genus 

 Hemarthria, the plant has to be called Hemarthria glabra, nob. 



Description : A perennial grass. Stems creeping below, then erect, scandent, 

 1-5 to 6 m. long (Roxb.). Blade of leaf short, slowly getting narrower 

 upwards, but at the apex slightly obtuse ; sheath at the nodes glabrous. 

 Racemes slender, compressed, 6-10 cm. long, solitary or the upper ones often 

 fascicled. Spikelets 2-nate, 4-45 mm. long ; callus 1 mm. long, obconical, 

 obtuse, glabrous. Sessile spikelets : Lower involucral glume broad, ovate 

 lanceolate, obtuse, at the apex emarginate or obtusely bidentate, not in the 

 least acuminate, scarcely constricted below the apex. Pedicelled spikelets: 

 Pedicel adnate. Glumes acute or subacuminate. 



Locality: Sind ; Bughar, Indus River (Blatter and McCann D661 !') ; 

 Mirpur Sakro (Blatter and McCann D662!). Gujarat: Kankaria Tank, 

 Ahmedabad (Sedgwick \).—Khandesh : Tapti, Bhusawal N. E. (Blatter and 

 Hallberg 5495 !).— Kanara : Sirsi to Siddhapur (Hall berg and McCann A78 !). 

 We have not included the localities mentioned by Cke. ii, 952 as some of his 

 specimens might belong to another species. 



Distribution : We do not know of any definite record as to the distribution 

 of this species. Hooker f. calls it common in India. Hackel gives Bengal, 

 Sarampur, Punjab, Nepal, Ceylon, China. Duthie says it occurs in moist 



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