May 31, 1928.] Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency 626 



many-nerved, densely hairy with whitish long hairs, margins incurved, tips 

 membranous ; upper involucral glume linear, obtuse, coriaceous, dark brown, 

 hispidulous, 3-nerved with incurved margins. Lower floral glume oblong, 

 hyaline, thin, nerveless, short, truncate, epaleate, upper empty, reduced to an 

 awn, 5'1 cm. long, column densely hairy with whitish hairs, callus long, 

 pointed, bearded with light brown hairs. Ovary linear, stigmatic branches 

 4-5 mm. long with thinly set ox-blood red hairs. Pedicelled spikelet : Lower 

 involucral glume lanceolate, obliquely twisted, densely 'hairy with tubercle- 

 based, persistent hairs all over the back, hairs on lower part shorter than in 

 upper; upper involucral glume oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 5-nerved, 

 ciliate, tip hairy, margins hyaline. Lower floral glume oblong, hyaline, 

 1-nerved, ciliate, upper oblong or obovate-lanceolate, hyaline, nerveless. 

 Stamens 3, filaments 4 mm. long ; anthers oblong, sagitate, pale yellow when 

 young, sulphur yellow when mature ; pollen grains round, smooth, dull grey. 

 The sessile spikelets in the lower part* are similar to the pedicelled spikelets 

 above. Fruit 5-8 mm. long, densely hairy with whitish soft hairs, light brown 

 with two deep furrows on the ventral side, armed with a pointed callus below 

 and a long, lash-like awn above. 



Locality : ' Usually found on the very shallow parts of Deccan soils ' (ex 

 Burns and others, 1. a). 



Distribution : Malabar, tropical Africa, Madagascar, Java, Philippines. 



39. Iseilema, Hack. ; Cke. ii, 995. 



Cke. has described two species : /. Wightii, Anders, and /. laxum, Hack. 

 We add a third one, /. anthephoroides, Hack. 

 The following key is after Hole 1 : — 



A. Lower involucral glume of hermaphrodite 



spikelet dorsally appressed, hairy at base and 



ciliate on margins in basal i ... 1. /. anthephoroides. 



B. Lower involucral glume of hermaphrodite 



spikelet glabrous dorsally at base and on 

 margins in basal \. 

 I. Spathe and upper floral leaf not tubercled on 



keel ... 2. /. laxum. 



II. Spathe and upper floral leaf tubercled on 



keel ... 3. /. Wightii. 



1. Iseilema anthephoroides, Hack. Monogr. Androp. 683 ; Hook. f. in. F.B.I. 



vii, 219 ; Haines Bot. Bihar & Orissa, 1054. 



Description : A much tufted annual grass, very leafy below, with many 

 stems 30-80 cm. high, sometimes pink, nodes glabrous. Leaves mostly short, 

 the longer ones about 13 cm. by 5 mm., subobtuse, ciliate at base and tip of 

 sheaths, cilia with small tubercle-bases, blades with scabrid margins, nerves 

 usually fine and uniform ; ligule of short fine hairs. Panicles long, rather 

 strict, but some of the spatheoles divergent, lower spathes foliaceous, upper 

 with shorter blades, base of blade and top of sheath with very long cilia ; 

 spathes often with many tubercles on the margins. Spatheoles cymbiform, 

 not acuminate, smooth and glabrous or minutely tubercled and scaberulous, 

 margins scarious, several spatheoles from each spathe or leaf-sheath. Peduncle 

 of cluster very short, 2*5-5 mm. long. Cluster scantily bearded at the base. 

 Involucral spikelets broadly oblong, 4 mm. long, rounded at tip, not or very 

 sparsely ciliate, their pedicels about 1 mm. long and nearly as broad at top, 

 compressed, bearded. Glumes 2 only. Lower involucral glume with narrowly 

 inflexed margins, strongly 2-nerved on the back and almost sulcate on either 

 side of midrib, 2 other partial nerves between the strong ones, upper involucral 

 glume nearly as long, flat, oblong, obtuse, 1-nerved ; floral glume absent. 

 Anthers yellow. Sessile spikelet 5-6 mm. long, suddenly tapering part or 

 beak rather longer than the lower broader part. Lower involucral glume 

 2-cuspidate at tip, 4-nerved between keels, hispid-hairy on the back on the 

 wider portion, the beak scabrid or scabrellous ; upper involucral glume as long, 



1 R. S. Hole, The Indian Species of Iseilema, Agric. Journ. of India, 

 Special Ind. Sc. Congress Number (1917), 125-131. See also A. Camus, Le 

 genre Iseilema, in Bull. Soc. Bot. France, series 4, xxiii (1923), 493. 



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