12 Jour.-, Bom. Nat~ Hist. Soc, Vol. XXXIII, No. I {Sept. 30, I92SL 



from i-% the length of the lower fibret,. 5-nerved, tipper corresponding in size 

 and outline to the spikelet, broadly rounded on the back, 11-nerved, tip con- 

 tracted^ apiculateto shortly rostrate. Lower floral glume barren, very like the 

 tower involucral glume, pale ovate to ovate-oblong, truncate or emarginate, up» 

 to' about i the length of the glume. Upper floret hermophrodite, elliptic-oblong 

 m outline, subacute, very convex on the back, uptO'Over 3 by 2 mm., variously 

 coloured (white, yellow, red, brown or black), very smooth and polished, 

 glume and pale crustaceous. Grain white. 



Locality r Cultivated in many parts of the Presidency, chiefly in Gujarat and: 

 on the Ghats. 



Distribution: Supposed to have originated, in India. But see DeCandolle, 

 Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 376, London 1909, 



Uses : Cultivated for its grain and as a good fodder- 



*6. Panicum miliary Lamk. 111. Gen. i (1791), 173; Roxb. FI. Ind. i, 309 ; 

 Kunth Enum, PL. i, 104 ; Aitchis. Cat. Panja,b. PI. 159 ; Duthie Grass. N. W- 

 Ind. 5, Field and Gard. Crops 7, t. 26, Indig. Fodd. Grass, t. 46,. Fodd. Grass. 

 N. Ind. 10-; Hook. f. in F.B.I. vii,46 ; Cke. ii, 939 {parHm) % ; Haines in Bot. 

 Bihar & Orissa 993.. 



Description: An annual grass. Culms 30-90 cm. high, rather slender, erect 

 or base geniculate, simple or branched, usually leafy up to the panicle. Leaves 

 linear, 15-60 cm. by 12-25' mm., gradually tapering from a broad base, glabrous 

 or finely hairy, sheaths glabrous, rarely hirsute with tubercle- based hairs. Pani- 

 cles very compound, contracted or thyrsiform, and of ten nodding, 10-25 cm. long 

 (without the subsidiary axillary panicles which are often developed) . Spikelets 

 glabrous, rather flattened, suddenly acute or slightly cuspidate, 2-3*2 mm. 

 long, mostly paired; on unequal pedicels, but often solitary at the ends of the 

 branchlets, lanceolate in flower, elliptic or broadly elliptic in fruit. Lower 

 involucral glume very broadly ovate, subtruncate, then suddenly acute, or 

 scarcely acute, about \ the spikelet, white, membranous, 3-5-nerved, nerves 

 arching and anastomosing. Upper involucral glume herbaceous, ovate-lanceo- 

 late, 11-13-nerved. Lower floral glume 9-nerved, neuter, pale as long as its 

 glume. Upper floral glume narrow-elliptic or elliptic-oblong to broadly ovate„ 

 acute, shining,, white or pale brown, or dark brown, often 3-5-streaked dorsally. 



Locality : Cultivated occasionally in some parts of the Presidency. 



Note. — P. miliare 'is in all probability a cultivated form of P. psilopodium. It 

 is not always easy to distinguish between the two. Hooker already felt this- 

 difficulty.. 'If I remember aright,' he says, ' P. miliare was conjectured by 

 Munrotobea cultivated form of P. Psilopodium ; and except in the greater size, 

 more contracted panicle, rather larger spikelets and usually shorter pedicels of 

 P. miliarrel failed to find characters whereby to separate them, and these are 

 not very reliable. In its common state the grain of miliare is broader than in 

 any form of psilopodium and much darker coloured.' (F.B.I, vii, 46). Duthie 

 was unable to distinguish P. miliare from P. psilopodium (Fodd Grass, N. 

 Ind, 10). Stapf, however, is inclined to think that they are separable. In his 

 opinion the true P. psilopodium has nearly always glabrous leaves, smaller 

 spikelets and a shorter lower involucral glume. Prain in his Bengal Plants 

 gives as the characters of P. miliare: 'Leaves hairy; cultivated'., and of P. 

 psilopodium: ' Leaves glabrous ; wild.' But he has nevertheless, as Haines 

 points out ' named most of the glabrous-leaved forms in the Calcutta Herb, as. 

 miliare, and I have myself noticed whole crops with glabrous leaves, whereas 

 I have collected psilopodium with hairy leaves.' 



The same author, after discussing the various statements, sums up his own 

 observations : ' Although absolutely the leaves of miliare are often broader 

 than in psilopodium, yet they are relatively narrower and much more alternate. 

 Moreover the cultivated miliare and its feral forms always appear to have more 

 or less contracted panicles in contrast to the shorter, always quickly effuse, 

 panicle of Psilopodium. The grain of miliare is, as would be expected, rather 

 larger, being 'OS-'l'in. long as compared with '0.7 in. long in psilopodium. 7 



7. Panicittn subeglitme,Trin. in Mem. Acad. Petersb. ser. 6, iii, pt. 2 (1835), 

 292; Steud. Syn. Gram. 82; Hook. f. F.B.I, vii, 51; Cke. ii, 936.— P. 

 arcuatum, Br. ex Neesin Wight Cat. no. 1639 {non Br. Prodr.).— P. Brownia- 

 num, Wight & Arn. ex Steud. I.e. 98.—/*. lorreyanum, Wight & Arn. ex 

 Steud. Nom. ed. 2, ii, 264.— Milium capillare, Roth. Nov. Sp. 39; Kuntfe 



m 



