1848 OLIII. GEAMINE^. IZoysia. 



one and rather more rigid.— R. Br. Prod. 208 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 116 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Hongk, 418, wibh the synonyms adduced; Sieb. Agrostofch. n. 52; 

 Z. sinica, Hance in Seem. Journ. Bot. 1869, 168 ; Buob. Ind. Gr. N.Z. PI. xiiia. 



Hab,; Port Curtis and Moreton Island, M'Gillivray ; Stradbroke Island, a sandy shore grass. 



26. *COIX, Linn. 



(A name applied by Theophrastus to some reed-like plant.) 



A tall annual or perennial grass. Leaves long and and broad. Spikes 

 numerous axillary and terminal ; lower spikelets solitary, female, encloped in an 

 at length hardened polished nut-like bract, through the apex of which the 

 pedicelled male portion protrudes. Male spikelets 2 to 3-nate at each node of the 

 rhachis, 1 sessile and 1 or 2 pedicellate, lanceolate. Glumes 4, 1st and 2nd 

 subequal, empty, rigid or herbaceous ; 1st keeled along the inflexed margins ; 

 8rd and 4th hyaline, paleate, triandrous or empty. Female spikelets ovoid, 

 acuminate ; glumes 4, 1st ohartaceous ; 2nd to the 4th successively thinner ; 4th 

 paleate. Staminodia minute. Lodicules none. Ovary ovoid, styles 2, free 

 slender. Grain orbicular or subcylindrical, ventrally furrowed, enclosed in the 

 hardened globose ovoid or cylindrical involucre. 



Found indigenous or naturalised in tropical Asia, Africa, America and New Zealand. 



1. C> lachryma-Jobi (Job's tears) Linn. Sp. Fl. ; Hook, in Fl. Brit. 

 Ind. vii. 100. Job's Tears. Stems 3 to 6tt. high, stout, leafy, rooting at the 

 lower nodes. Leaves 4 to 18in. long 1 to 2in. broad, undulate, cordate at the 

 base ; the sheaths smooth ; ligula very short, glabrous. Spikes 2 to Sin. long, 

 suberect, pedunculate ; male spikelets 3 or 2 with an imperfect one, 8 lines long ; 

 1st glume narrowly winged. Fruit ovoid or spherical, 8 to 4 lines long, bony, 

 bluish-grey. — Mart. Fl. Bras. ii. t. 10. . 



Hab.: This the typical plant of the genus is sometimes met with as a stray from cultivation. 



27. POLYTOCA, R. Br. 



(From poly, many, and tokos, a birth.) 

 {GJiionachne, E. Br. in Fl. Austr.) 

 Tall branching grasses, nodes often bearded ; flowering branches fasciculate, 

 spathaceous. Leaves long, flat. Spikes solitary or paniculate, bisexual and 

 female below, or the upper male only, rhachis jointed ; spikelets geminate, a 

 sessile and a pedicellate one. Male spikelets lanceolate, 2-flowered ; glumes 4, 

 1st many-nerved, 2 keeled ; 2nd 5 to 7-nerved ; 3rd and 4th hyaline, paleate, 

 triandrous ; anthers very long. Lodicules cuneate. Female spikelets imbricate, 

 the pedicellate imperfect, its pedicel confluent with the rhachis ; glumes of sessile 

 spikelet 4, 1st oblong, coriaceous, margins inflexed embracing the rhachis, at 

 length crustaceous ; 2nd thin, acuminate ; 3rd hyaline, epaleate ; 4th hyaline, 

 paleate, fertile. Staminodia and lodicules wanting. Ovary minute; styles long, 

 stigmas slender. Grain very small, orbicular, enclosed in the hardened outer 

 glumes. — Hook, in Fl. Brit. Ind. vii. 100. 



Species few, Asiatic and Australian. 

 Stems often tall. 

 Peduncles several in the upper leaf-sheaths. Bracts spreading under 



th« spike. Spike lin. or rather longer, with only 1 female spikelet . . 1. P. barbata. 

 Peduncles solitary in the leaf-sheaths, the bract closely embracing the 

 base of the spike. Spike 3 to 4in. loug, with 3 to 6 female spikelets . . 2. P. cyathopoda. 

 Stems very slender erect, abgut 1ft. high , . 3. P. Sclerachne, 



