15 Jour., Bom. Nat Hist. Soc, Vol. XXXI 1, No. 1. [Aug. 1, 1927. 



membranous or chartaceous, enclosing the florets. Valves more or less 

 hyaline, awnless. The female spikelets solitary with or without a rudimentary 

 pedicelled companion, 1-flowered. Glumes firm, at least the lower which 

 ultimately often becomes bony, or both thin and more or less hyaline. Valves 

 hyaline awnless. 



1. Male and female spikelets in separate inflorescences. 

 Male spikelets in a large terminal panicle. The 

 female spikelets in the axils of the leaves 



(a) Female spikes distinct, articulated ... ... *1. Euchlcena. 



(b) Female spikes grown together into a spongy 



more or less cylindrical body ... ... *2. Zea. 



2 Male and female spikelets in separate portions of 

 the same spike, the female below. 



(a) Grain enclosed in the usually globose or ovoid 



ivory- like capsuliform supporting sheath ... 3. Coix. 



(b) Grain enclosed in the hardened outer glumes ... 4. Polytoca. 



*1. Euchi^ena, Schrad, 



Stout and tall annuals with leaves very broadly linear or oblong. Male 

 spikelets 2-nate (sessile and pedicellate) on the spiciform fascicled branches of 

 a terminal panicle, 2-flowered with coriaceous glumes. Female spikelets in 

 2-ranked spikes which are clustered in the leaf-axils, not fused as in the Maize 

 joints rhomboidal, oblique, articulate, excavate, with the margins of the 

 excavation embracing the cartilaginous outer glume and with it forming a 

 smooth pseudocarp. 



*1. Euchlsna mexicana, Schrad. Ind. Sem. Hort. Gotting. (1832), var 

 luxurians ; H.H. Mann in Bull. 77, Dept. of Agric, Bombay.— Reana luxu- 

 riant, Dur. in Bull. Soc. Acclim. Ser. II, IX (1872), 581. 



Vern. name : Teosinte. 



Description : A large, very succulent, strong growing, annual grass, 30 cm.- 

 3 m. high. Leaves long, 5-7"S cm. broad. Male spikelets 8-9 mm. long, 

 crowded in long spikes in a corymb .15-25 cm. long. Female spikes in the 

 leaf-axils. Styles very long, protruding from the top of the enclosing leaf- 

 sheath. The spike of the female spikelets breaking up at maturity into 

 rhomboidal seed-like joints. Nearly allied to Maize and resembling it in its 

 tassel of male flowers and broad leaves. A single plant often sends up 

 100 stems. 



Locality : Cultivated in the Ganeshkhind Botanic Garden. 



Distribution : A native of Guatemala. 



Uses: Cultivated for green fodder, but it does not stand drought well. 

 Horses are fond of it. 



*2. Zea, Linn. (Cke. ii, 1051, Stapf. Fl. Trop. Afr. ix, 26) 



Tall, stout, annual grasses with large leaves, the axils of the lower bearing 

 the female inflorescences (cobs), tightly enveloped by large membranous 

 bracts. Sexes in different inflorescences on the same plant. Male inflorescence 

 terminal, of panicled spike-like racemes with 2-nate spikelets shortly unequally 

 pedicelled or one sessile on the inarticulate rhachis, both similar, 2-flowered, 

 awnless. Glumes subequal, membranous, convex, obscurely 2-keeled, 9-10- 

 nerved. Valves more or less hyaline, 3-5-nerved ; valvules similar, 2-nerved, 

 obscurely keeled ; lodicules 2, fleshy. Stamens 3 ; anthers linear. Female 

 spikelets 2-nate in 4-11 longitudinal rows, slightly immersed in the spongy 

 axis of the cob, with a lower barren and an upper fertile floret, awnless. 

 Glumes similar, very broad, fleshy below, hyaline above, nerveless, ciliate. 

 Lower valve resembling the glumes, but shorter and ciliate, with or without 

 a similar but smaller valvule ; upper valve similar to the lower with a valvule 

 about as long as the ovary. Lodicules 0. Ovary obliquely ovoid. Style very 

 long, 2-fid at the tip, papillose upwards, exserted in long silky tassels from the 

 sheathing bracts. Grain large, subglobose or dorsal ly more or less flattened, 

 surrounded by the dried up glumes, valves and valvules ; scutellum large, 

 equalling or exceeding £ of the grain. 



Species 1. — A native of America. 



•1. Zea mays, Linn. Sp. pi. ed. I, 971 ; Beauv. Agrost. 136, t. 24, fig. 3 ; 

 Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. I, 9 ; Bentl. and Trim. Med. PI. t. 296 ; Duthie, Field and 

 [2] 



