23 Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Sac., Vol. XXXI! , No. 7. [Aug. 1, 1927. 



"differing in sex, one sessile, the other pedicelled on the articulate fragile 

 rhachis of solitary spike-like racemes, the pedicelled tardily separating from 

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

 rhachis and the pedicel. Fiorets 2 ; lower male, upper bisexual in the sessile, 

 male or neuter in the pedicelled spikelets. Sessile spikelets : glumes equal 

 •or subequal ; lower grooved, rarely flat, 2-dentate or 2-mucronate, more or 

 less chartaceous, upwards acutely 2-keeled with inflexed margins, keels winged ; 

 upper glume boat-shaped, keeled upwards with a bristle-like awn. Valves 

 hyaline, of lower floret entire, muticous, of upper 2-fid and awned from the 

 sinus. Valvules more or less equalliag their valves, hyaline. Lodicules 2, 

 ♦cuneate. Stamens 3. Stigmas linear-oblong, laterally exserted. Grain oblong, 

 obtusely trigonous; embryo reaching to the middle of the grain. Pedicelled 

 spikelets flat, with 2 florets resembling the lower floret of the sessile spikelets, 

 the lower or both more or less reduced and barren. 

 Species about 5.— India, Tropica! Africa, N. America. 



A. Racemes enclosed in long narrow spathes ... 1. 5. sPatkifhrum. 



B. Racemes not enclosed in spathes— 



I. Sessile spikelets 6-7 mm. long. Lower in- 



volucral glume of sessile spikelet 6-nerved ... 2, S. nervosum. 

 II, Sessile spikelets 7-11 mm long. Lower in- 



volucral glume of sessile spikelet 3-5-nerved „. 3, 5. ischcemoidfs . 

 III. Sessile spikelet 9 mm. long. Lower involucral 



glume of sessile spikelet 2-nerved... ... 4. S. sulcatum. 



1. Sehima spathiflorum, nov, comb. Blatter and McCann.— lstchczmmn sfrathi- 

 florum, Hook. f. in F. B, I., vii (1896), 138 ; Cke. ii, 963. 



Description : Cke. 1. c. 



Locality : Khandesh ,■ Toranmal (McCann 9922 \).—Konkan ? Penn (Bhide !) ; 

 Matheran (Paranjpe !) ; Bassein (Ryan 2300 !) ; Kenery Caves (McCann 9920 !) ; 

 Island of Salsette in hilly stony places (Jacquemont 797).—Deccans Lonavla 

 (fBhide!) ; Khandala (Woodrow) ; Khandala, in watercourses, verv common 

 (McCann 9928 !) ; Palasdari on the Bhor Ghat, G. I. P. Railway (Woodrow) ; 

 Lohagad, plain (McCann 9919!); Bairawadi, Purandhar (McCann 5054!); 

 Igatpuri (Blatter and Hallberg 3836 !, McCann !). 



Dislribulion : Endemic. 



2. Sehima nervosum, Stapf. in Fl. Trop. Afr. IX, 36 ; Haines pt. v, 1023.— 

 5". m. zeros tachyum, Hochst. in Schimp. PL Abvss. n. 1705.— Andropogon 

 nervosus, Rottl. apud Willd in Verb. Naturf. Fr. Berlin, iv ^1803), 218.— 

 Andropogon striatus, Klein apud Willd. Sp. PI. iv. (1805), 903 ; R. Br. Prodr. 

 201.— A. tacazensis, Steud. Syn. PI. Glum, i, 369.-/4. macrostachys, Anders, 

 m Schweinf, Beitr. Fl. Aeth. 306 {per errorem 310) .— Ischce mum l<axum, R. 

 Br. Prodr. 205; Hook. f. in F. B. I. vii, 136, partim ; Cke. ii, 964, pariim.— 

 IschcBmumlaxumM^x. genuinmem^ Hack, in Monogr. Androp. 245. — IschcEmum 

 nervosum^ Thw. Enura. PL Zeyl. 2>ti$.—Is€hcemum macrostachyum, A. Rich. 

 Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii, 472. —Pollinia striata, Spreng. Pug. ii, Yl.—Hologamium 

 nervosum., Nees in Edinb. N. Phil. Journ. xviii, 185, 



Description : A perennial, densely tufted grass. Stems erect, 60 cm. to 1 m. 

 high, on a short rootstock, simple or nearly so, plender, terete, about 4-noded, 

 middle and upper internodes exserted, smooth or slightly rough below the 

 inflorescence, glabrous. Leaves 15-30 cm. and longer, 2-4 mm. broad, erect, 

 linear, narrowed into long capillary tips, flat, smooth, striate, glaucous, more or 

 less scabrid, lateral nerves about 3 on each side, like the midrib whitish and 

 prominent on both sides ; sheaths shorter than the internodes, tight, terete, 

 striate, smooth or nearly so, glabrous or sparingly hirsute from tubercle- based 

 hairs ; ligule a line of short stiff hairs. Racemes solitary, 5-10 cm. long, erect, 

 slightly curved, pale, fragile ; joints and pedicels parallel, sublinear, slightly 

 compressed, 3-4\5 mm. long, densely ciliate with white hairs along the angles, 

 otherwise glabrous, tips more or less oblique. Sessile spikelets lanceolate-linear 

 to linear, acuminate, 6-25-7 mm. long, pale green, with a shortly bearded 

 callus. Glumes subequal: lower subchartaceous to chartaceous, with an 

 unequally 2-toothed, flat and membranous beak, the teeth of which sometimes 

 run out into ciliate mucros, deeply grooved, especially below the middle, 

 acutely 2-kee!ed, outer keel generally winged upwards, intracarinal nerves 4, 

 with transverse veins in the upper part, like these green and raised on a white 



[10] 



