May 31, 1928.] Revision of the Flora of the Bombay Presidency 632 



Description : A very slender, glabrous plant with filiform, prostrate, creeping 

 branched stems, rooting at the nodes, stems 30-60 cm. long, compressed. 

 Blade 2-5 cm. long, distant, linear-oblong, acute, rounded at base, sessile or 

 short-petioled, nerves distinct, very slender, with a few scattered cilia on both 

 surfaces, nearly smooth ; sheaths shorter than the blade, often with tubercle- 

 based hairs above, rarely glabrous ; ligule passing at the sides into 2 short, 

 herbaceous, fimbriate auricles of the sheath. Panicle leafy, very lax, interrupted, 

 12-20 cm. long ; fascicles of spikelets few, axillary, 6-12 mm. broad, glabrous 

 or with a few tubercle-based cilia on simple, rarely branched capillary pedun- 

 cles shorter than the leaves ; lower peduncles sometimes elongate, 2'5~-7'5 cm. 

 long and bearing several fascicles ; outer spathes 8-25 mm. long ; spikes 3-6 in 

 a fascicle, proper spathe ]0-12 mm. long, rather "longer than the spikes, 

 glabrous or towards the margin with a few bulbous-based hairs. Sessile 

 spikelets 3-4'5 mm. long, linear, scaberulous. Lower involucral glume 

 dorsally concave ; awn of upper floral glume 12-14 mm. long, very thin. 

 Pedicelled spikelets linear-lanceolate, naked, awn 12-18 mm. long. 



Locality. S. M, Country: Londa (Gammie 15869 \).—Kanara : Birchy 

 {Talbot 2073!). 



Distribution : Deccan and W. Peninsula, Ceylon, 



42. Digitaria, Hall. Hist Stirp. ii (1768), 244 ; Stapf in Pram Fl. 

 Trop. Afr, ix, 422. 



Species more than 100, in the warm parts of the whole world, but chiefly in 

 the Old World. 



Cke. (ii, 940-942) describes 6 species. All are retained in this place, but the 

 name of Digitaria sanguinalis will be replaced by D. marginata. 



Key as in Cke, 



1. Digitaria ternata, Stapf in Dyer Fl. Cap. vii, 376, et in Prain Fl. Trop. Afr. 

 ix, 452 ; Cke. ii, 940.— Paspalum ternatum, Hook. f. in F. B. I. vii, 17. — 

 Panicum ternatum, Hochst, in Flora xxiv (1841), 1, Intell. 19; Hack, in Oest. 

 Bot, Zeitschr. (1901), 331. — P. phcenocarpum, var. gracile, Nees Fl. Afr. Austr. 

 23.—Cynodon ternatum, A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii, 405. 



Description : Cke. 1. c. Occasionally long fine hairs are found on the 

 peduncles. 



Locality: Deccan: Purandhar Fort (Bhide!).— 5. M. Country: Belgaum 

 (Herb. Bot. Gard. Cal.). 



Distribution : India (Khasia Hills, Burma, W. Peninsula), Yunnan, tropical 

 and S. Africa. 



2. Digitaria marginata, Link Hort, Berol, i, 229 ; Stapf in Prain Fl. Trop, 

 Afr. ix, 439. 



Description : Annual, 30 cm, to 1 m. high. Stems tufted, usually ascend- 

 ing from a geniculate or prostrate base, simple or branched from the lower 

 nodes, glabrous, few to many-noded. Leaves 5-15 cm. by 4-8 mm,., linear or 

 linear-lanceolate from a slightly contracted and rounded base, acute, flat, 

 flaccid, glabrous or sparingly hairy particularly towards the mouth, margins 

 finely cartilaginous, rough and often crisp, midrib very slender, whitish ; 

 sheaths thin, subherbaceous, loose, glabrous, or more or less beset with 

 spreading tubercle- based hairs often forming a loose beard at the base ; ligules 

 truncate, membranous, up to over 1 mm. long. Spikes mostly 4-9, sessile, 

 subdigitate, solitary or 2-3 — nate on a short, scaberulous common axis, erect or 

 spreading, rather slender, strict or slightly flexuous 5-15 cm. long, often finely 

 pubescent at the base ; rhachis almost straight, triquetrous, lateral angles 

 winged, herbaceous, scabrid, internodes up to more than 2 mm. long. Pedicels 

 2-nate, one very short, the other up to 1*5 mm. long, angular, scabrid. 

 Spikelets appressed, lanceolate, acutely acuminate, 2-4 mm. long, pale 

 greenish, rarely tinged with purple, variously hairy, rarely quite glabrous. 

 Lower involucral glume an ovate, obtuse to subacute membranous scale, 

 usually not over - 3 mm. long, sometimes obsolete or quite suppressed ; upper 

 ovate-lanceolate, acute, equalling or considerably exceeding half of the upper 

 floral glume, rarely distinctly shorter, 3-nerved, with fine lines of hairs between 

 the nerves and along the margins, rarely quite glabrous. Lower floral glume 

 corresponding in outline and size to the spikelet, firmly membranous, 7-nerved, 

 rarely quite glabrous, usually with fine lines of hairs between the inner side- 



