425 Jour., Bom. Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XXXII, No. 3. [Jan. 15, 1928. 



II Lower involucral glumes of pedicelled 

 spikelets not armed with marginal 

 bristles 



1. Nodes of stem glabrous ; ligule a 



shortly ciliate small membrane ... 4. D. caricosum. 



2. Nodes of stem bearded ; ligule large, 



membranous ... ... ... 5. D. annulatum 



B. Racemes solitary, less than 25 mm, long ... 6. D. serrafalccides. 



1. Dichanthiutn panchganiense, Blatter & McCann in Journ. Bomb. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. xxxii (1927), 381. 



Locality : Deccan : Panchgani (McCann ! ) 

 Distribution : W. Peninsula, apparently endemic. 



2. Dichanthiutn armatum, Blatter & McCann, comb. nov.—Andropogon 

 armatus, Hook. f. in F. B. I. vii, 197 : Cke. ii, 987. 



Description : Cke. 1. c. 



Locality : Konkan : Stocks (teste Hook, f.).— Deccan : Kalsabai Hills, 

 Nasik District (Patwardhan 1183 !); Gira Hill, Khandala (McCann 9430 ! 9431 !); 

 Lohagad (McCann 3871 ! ) ; Panchgani (Blatter and Hallberg B1212 ! ) ; 

 Pasarni Ghat (Blatter and Hallberg B1304 ! ). 



Distribution : W. Peninsula, apparently endemic. 



3. Dichanthium McCannii, Blatter in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xxxii 

 (1927), 381. 



Locality : Deccan ; Panchgani (McCann ! ). 

 Distribution : W. Peninsula, apparently endemic. 



4. Dichanthium caricosum, A. Camus : Note sur le genre Dichanthium 

 Willemet in Bull. Mus. Hist. Nat. (Paris) 27 (1921), 5i9.—Andropogon cari- 

 cosum, Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 2 (1763), 1480 ; Hack. Monogr. Androp. 567 ; Hook, 

 f. in F. B. I. vii, 196 ; Cke. ii, 967 ; Haines Bot. Bihar and Orissa, 1039— For 

 further synonyms see Hook, f . 1. c. 



Three authors have made the new combination Dichanthium caricosum : 

 {a) A. Camus 1. c. (6). Stapf in Ridley Fl. Malay Penins. v (1925), 210. (c) 

 Haines in Bot. Bihar and Orissa (1924), 1039. A. Camus has therefore to be 

 adopted as authority for D. caricosum. 



We are not trying to describe varieties or forms of this very variable species. 



Vern. Names : Marvel (Mar.), Zinzvo (Guj.). 



Description : Cke. 1. c. 



This species can, according to Burns and others 1 be distinguished from 

 D. annulatum, Stapf by the following characters : — 



Dichanthium caricosum. Dichanthium annulatum. 

 Habit : Big and tufted with ter- Medium size with termi- 



minal and axillary in- nal inflorescences . 



florescences. 

 Nodal hairs on stem : Short. Long. 



Colour of inflorescence : Light purplish-green. Purple. 



Hairs of inflorescence : Short. Long. 



Haines 1. c. believes there is no single character by which D. caricosum can 

 be distinguished from D. annulatum. ' I have,' he says, ' tested all those given 

 in the F. B. I. and found them fail on specimens named by Sir J. D. Hooker 

 himself ; the key characters in Bengal plants are also unworkable as applied to 

 the same specimens, many of which have bearded nodes, and the character of 

 spiral or subdistichous spikelets is difficult to apply. Linnasus described 

 Andropogon caricosus as with solitary spikes, and Willdenough (sic ! ) adds 

 • leaves with sparse hairs and sheaths hirsute at the base ' (probably he refers 

 to the nodes).' 



In his key-characters Haines says that in D. caricosum the callus is glabrous. 

 This seems to be a mistake. Hackel calls the callus Brevissime barbatus, Cooke 

 has ' bearded,' Rangachari describes it as ' short and shortly hairy below.' We 

 have always found it bearded. 



Locality: Gujarat: Surat, road sides (Sedgwick 2>lS\).—Khandesh : 

 Toranmal (McCann 9669!) ; Tapti, N. E. of Bhusawal (Hallberg 5111 !) ; 



1 W. Burns, L. B. Kulkarni and S. R. Godbole : A Study of Some Indian 

 Grasses, in Mem. Dept Agr. Ind., xiv (1925), 46. 



[18] 



