Mft. 0. BENItHAM OS flEAMINEJE. W? 



at the end of the peduncle, and in some species with the addition 

 of others scattered or yerticillate lower down. The flat spikelets 

 have been sometimes mistaken for those oi Eragrostis ; but their 

 arrangement in two rows is always that of Ohlorideae. The genus 

 is often restricted to Gsertner's JS. coracana and E. indica, in 

 which the spikes are digitated and rather long, and the membra- 

 nous pericarp loose on the ripe seed. This character is particu- 

 larly marked in the E. coracana ; but that is probably a plant 

 somewhat modified by long cultivation. In the common E. indica 

 the pericarp is often as loose, but sometimes remains very thin 

 and not so easily detached. In the still more common E. eegyp- 

 tiaca, Pers., forming the genus Bactyloctenitm, "Willd., the digi- 

 tate spikes are very short and dense, and the very thin pericarp 

 appears to wither away or to dry up in ripening, leaving the seed 

 apparently exposed and rugose, similar to that of E. indica. In 

 E. hrevifolia, Wall, Oat., and E. glaucopTiylla, Munro {Bactylo- 

 ctenium glaueopTiyllum, Courb.), the spikes are short as in E. 

 (Bgyptiaca, and more or less of the remains of the membranous 

 pericarp maybe often seen persistent about the seed. Acraohie, 

 Wight and Am., is the E. verticillata, B-oxb., in which the spikes 

 are rather long as in E. indica ; but besides the terminal digitate 

 ones, there are others scattered or verticillate along the peduncle. 

 ArthrochlcBHa, Boiv. in herb. J. Gay, is a remarkable Madagascar 

 species which may be thus defined : — E. macrostachya, Benth., 

 elata, foliis angustissimis rigidis crassiusculis, spicis 2-3nis ter- 

 minalibus, spiculis confertis 18-20-floris, glumis acute cariuatis 

 paleaceis bifariam imbricatis. A plant of rushlike habit about 

 2 feet high, the spikes about 4 inches long, with very numerous 

 spikelets varying from 4 to 6 lines long, resembling those of Era- 

 grostis, but much more rigid. 



24. Leptochioa, Beauv. (Oxydenia, Nutt.), about twelve spe- 

 cies, tropical or subtropical, in the New as well as the Old World, 

 and extending on the one hand into North America, and on the 

 other into extratropical Australia, is one of those genera which 

 interfere provokingly with our classifications. Nearest allied to 

 Eletcsine, ithas also considerable affinity with Gynodon, Biplachie, 

 and Poa, to which some of the species have been occasionally 

 referred ; and one has beeu figured as a Gynosurus. The chief 

 character consists in the slender spikes scattered along the 

 common peduncle, with numerous small flat spikelets, giving the 



