GRAMINEAE 75 



2. CO IX Linnaeus 



Tall, coarse, erect, branched, annual or perennial grasses with long, broad 

 leaves. Spikes numerous,. axillary and terminal, the lower spikelets solitary, 

 female, enclosed in a hardened, shining, bea'd-like capsule, the pedicels 

 bearing the male spikelets protruding through the apex of the capsule. 

 Male spikelets lanceolate, in pairs or in threes at each node of the rachis, 

 1 sessile, and' 1 or 2 pedicelled. Glumes 4, the first and second subequal, 

 empty, the third and fourth thin, paleate, each enclosing a flower, or empty. 

 Female spikelets ovoid, acuminate, of 4 glumes, the first chartaceous, the 

 others thinner. Grain orbicular, enclosed in the hardened, shining capsule. 

 (A Greek name used by Theophrastus for some reed-like plant.) 



Species 3 or 4, or reduced by some botanists to a single variable one, in 

 the tropics of the Old World, 2 forms in the Philippines. 



1. C. L.4CHRYMA-J0BI L. Tigbe (Tag.),; Job's Tears. 



Stems coarse, stout, 1 to 2 m high, branched. Leaves 10 to 40 cm long, 

 2.5 to 4 cm wide, acuminate, base broad, cordate. Spikes 6 to 10 cm long, 

 erect, peduncled. Male spikelets about 8 mm long. Capsule enclosing the 

 female flowers and the grains hard, bony, 'white or nearly black, shining, 

 ovoid, about 8 mm long. (Fl. Filip. pi. 188.) 



In waste places, occasional, fl. Oct.-Feb., and probably in other months; 

 widely distributed in the Philippines. Tropical Asia and Malaya, cultivated 

 in tropical Africa and America. Probably a, native of India, and of pre- 

 historic introduction in the Philippines. 



3. DIMERIA R. Brown 



Slender, annual or perennial grasses. Leaves narrow, flat. Spikelets 

 1-flowered, unilateral, sessile or pedicelled, on 1 or 2 to several, digitately 

 or racemosely arranged spikes, the" rachis not jointed. Glumes 4, the first 

 linear, rigid, the second broader, compressed, the third smaller, hyaline, 

 empty, the fourth hyaline, entire or 2-lobed, keeled, 1-nerved, usually 

 ~ awned, containing a perfect flower. Grain linear, laterally compressed, free. 



Species about 12, Asia to Australia, 1 in the Philippines. 



1. D. ornithopoda Trin., var. tenera (Trin.) Hack. 



A very slender, annual, erect, m6re or less tufted grass 10 to 40 cm high. 

 Leaves linear, 2 to 3 cm long. Inflorescence long-exserted, consisting of 2, 

 ascending or spreading, slender spikes 5 cm long or less, digitately arranged 

 at the apex of the stem, the rachis slendeir, slightly flexuous. Spikelets 

 sessile, about 2 mm long, the awn of the fourth glume very slender, often 

 nea,rly 1 cm long. (Greek "two parted" in allusion to the two spikes.) 



In open wet lands, especially in fallow rice paddies, etc., fl. Aug.-Dec; 

 widely distributed in the Philippines. India to Australia. 



4. IMPERATA Cyrilli 



Perennial, erect, unbranched grasses from stout underground rootstocks. 

 Leaves flat. Spikelets 1- or 2-flowered, in dense, spike-like, silvery-silky 

 panicles, in pairs, both pedicelled, the upper fjower perfect, the lower im- 

 perfect or none. Glumes 4, thin, awnless, the first and second lanceolate, 

 hairy, the third and fourth much smaller, thin, glabrous. Stamens 1 or 

 2; anthers large. Grain small, oblong, free. (In honor of F. Imperato, 

 an early Italian pharmacist.) 



Species 5, chiefly tropical,, 2 in the Philippines. 



