1831 CLIIl; GEAMINE^. [Ichnanthus^ 



thin, flat, cordate-acuminate, scabrous ; base rounded or cordate, ciliate ; &heatk' 

 loose; ligula more or less ciliate. Panicle narrow, unilateral, about 6in. long; 

 branches erect or spreading, few and slightly divided, and pedicels scaberulous. 

 Spikelets narrow, 2 or 3 lines long, green ; 1st and 3rd glumes persistent, keels 

 scabred ; 1st more than h the length of the 3rd, ovate-lanceolate, subaristate,. 

 8-nerved, 2nd acuminate, 5-nerved; 3rd obtuse, 5-nerved, palea large; 4th = 5. 

 3rd, deciduous, smooth, pale, turned half round so that the long diameter is at 

 right angles to the plane of the spikelets ; appendages obscure! Hook. l.c> 

 remarks that the oblique position of the grain is very peculiar. — Panicum vicinwn. 

 Bail. 3rd. Suppl. Syn. QI. Fl. 82. 

 Haa.: Harvey's Creek, Kussell Eiver, on rich land. 



6. CHAM^RAPHIS, E. Br. 



(Ground-needles, referring to the awn-like point of the partial rhaohis.)' 



Spikelets with 1 terminal flower usually female by abortion and a male one- 

 below it, few and distant or solitary on the filiform branches of a simple panicle, 

 the partial rhachis produced into a long awn-like point beyond the insertion of 

 the upper or only spikelet. Glumes 4, the outer empty one very small, the 2nd 

 and 3rd nearly equal, membranous or at length rigid, many-nerved, often 

 tapering to a point but not'awned, the 3rd with a palea and 3 stamens in its axil, 

 the 4fch or fruiting glume shorter and very faintly nerved. Palea with inflected 

 margins but not auriculate. Staminodia usually 2, very slender, with small 

 abortive anthers. Styles very shortly united at the base. Grain enclosed in the 

 scarious or rather rigid fruiting glume and palea, but free from them. — Semi- 

 aquatic grasses, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves flat, the ligula short. 

 The genus extends o¥er tropical Asia. 



Panicle spreading, with distant spikelets on filiform branches. Fruiting 



glume short and obtuse 1 . C spinescem^ 



Panicle spikelike but loose, the spikelets often 2 together on the lower 

 branches. Fruiting glume acute. Outer glume J line long, membranous . 2. C paradoxal 



1. C> spinescens (spiny-looking), Poir. But. Suppl. ii. 189 ; Benth. FL 

 Austr. vii. 498. Stems creeping at the base and when in water forming large 

 floating masses. Leaves linear-lanceolate, flat, with loose flattened sheaths, quite 

 smooth or slightly scabrous. Panicle 2 to 4in. long, with rather numerous 

 filiform flexuose spreading branches produced beyond the last spikelet into an- 

 awnlike point always longer than the spikelet. Spikelets few on each branchy 

 shortly pedicellate but closely appressed in each bend of the rhachis, the pedicels, 

 and rhachis usually minutely scabrous-ciliate, the spikelet very narrow, about 3 

 lines long in the typical form. Outer glum« about ^ line long, thinly membranous 

 the 2nd many-nerved, tapering to a long point, the 3rd usually rather smaller 

 with a shorter point and fewer nerves, enclosing the male flower, the fruiting: 

 glume much shorter, obtuse, very thin, and remaining thin as well as the palea 

 over the grain, which readily falls out of them. — C. aspera, Nees in Wall. Cat.. 

 Herb. Ind. n. 8679 ; Panicum spmescens, R. Br. Prod. 193. 



Hab.: Moreton Bay, F. r. Mueller ; East Australian lagoons, Leiehhardt. 



y&r. parvispicula, diftering only in the much smaller spikelets. — Panknnt ahortivum, R. Br,. 

 Prod. 193 ; Chammraphis abortiva, Poir. Diet. Suppl. ii. 189. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, E. Broicn ; between the Norman and Gilbert 

 Kivers, Gulliver ; Eockingham Bay, Dallachij. 



The species is generally spread over East India from Ceylon and the Peninsula to the 

 Malayan Archipelago and South Chini. 



2. C. paradoxa (paradoxical), Poir. Diet. Suppl. ii, 189 ; Benth. Fl, Austr^ 

 vii. 499. A smaller plant than C. spinescens. Leaves mostly short and spreading. 

 Panicle almo.st reduced to a simple spikelike raceme, the awnlike branches mostly 



