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INDIAN FOREST MEMOIRS. 



CHAP TEE II. 



(i) Detailed Description of Species. 

 Saccharum spontaneum, Linn. (Plates III and XIII. — XVIII.) 



References. F. B. I., VII, 118. H., 113. 



P., II, 1188. C, II, 948 



Distribution. India, Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon, Arabia, Syria, Africa, China, Java, Philippines, 



New Guinea, Australia. 



Vernacular 



Name. 



Culm. 



Leaf-sheath. 



Lamina. 



Ligule. 



I u !1 ores- 

 tence. 



A. — Description. 



Kans, kansi. 



Erect or decumbent at base. Has been measured locally 14' 2" (excluding prostrate or 

 subterranean portion) long but is said to attain 20' (fade F. B. I.). 



On dry sand very slender often not exceeding 0-10 in. diameter, but in favourable 

 localities attaining a diameter of 06 in. Solid above, fistular below, terete, indistinctly 

 striate. 



Usually pruinose when young, polished when old. 



Silky below the panicle and minutely silky below the upper leaf insertions. 



Glabrous or minutely pubescent below the lower leaf insertions. 



Longer than proper internode, often with reddish or purplish blotches. 



Villous at mouth, often minutely pubescent at base, otherwise glabrous or with scattered 

 adpressed hairs, sulcate. 



Erect. Of uppermost leaf of flowering culm usually long, but varying from 2" to 3' 

 in length. 



Of lower leaves, attains a length of 4' (Roxburgh gives 7'). 



Usually very narrow, frequently not exceeding 0-05" in width and then consisting of 

 a very narrowly margined concavo-convex mid-rib, but attains a width of 0-7 in. 

 Greatest width about the middle. 



Colour glaucous, mid-rib white. 



Apex long acuminate, base narrow consisting of the mid-rib 



Margin scabrid. 



Often villous above at base immediately behind the ligule. 



Ovate to deltoid, base often sub-auricled. 



Membranous, sub-acute or sub-truncate, often fimbriate when old. 



Up tc 025 in. high. Minutely silky dorsally and ciliate. 



Spikelets in pairs, one pedioelled and one sessile on the capillary jointed branches and 

 branchlets of a terminal panicle. 



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