PoUinia.] OLIII. GRAMINEJl. 1858 



oiliate. Spikelets both pedicellate but one pedicel longer than the other, 

 about 1 line long. Outer glume rather broad, obtuse and more or less toothed at 

 the end, the nerves faint except a more prominent one near each margin ; 2nd 

 glume narrow, the keel produced into a fine straight awn, 3rd very small and 

 hyaline. Awn or terminal glame about 2in. long, contracted at the base into a 

 flexuose stipes without any hyaline dilatation, twisted and ciliate in the lower 

 half. No Tpale&.—Saccharum irritans, R. Br. Prod. 203; Erianthus irritam, 

 Kunth, Enum. i. 479; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 118. 



Hab.: Keppel Bay, R. Brown ; Endeavour River and Cleveland Bay, A. Cunningham ; Cape 

 York, Daemel ; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy. 



3. P. falva (tawny), Benth. Fl. Austi: vii. 526. Stems either slender and 

 1 to IJft. high, or stouter more branching at the base and attaining 2 to 4ft., the' 

 nodes glabrous or shortly bearded. Leaves rather narrow tapering to fine points, 

 the orifice of the sheaths and ligula usually ciliate and sometimes the sheaths 

 hairy. Spikes 2 or 3 sessile and near together in a terminal cluster but not quite 

 digitate, 1^ to 2^in. long, covered with silky hairs of a rich brown. Spikelets 

 mostly about 2 lines long, but variable in size, all similar or the pedicellate ones 

 rather narrower. Outer glume truncate or denticulate at the end, faintly nerved, 

 2nd nearly as long, narrower, slightly keeled, truncate, 3rd very minute or more 

 frequently entirely deficient. Awn or terminal glume slender, rarely ^in. long, 

 contracted into a flexuose stipes or slightly dilated at the base, hyaline and bifid. 

 Styles very shortly united. — Turner Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. ii. PI. xxxiv ; Saccharum 

 fulvum, R. Br. Prod, 203 ; Erianthus fidvus, Kuuth, Enum. i. 479 ; F. v. M. 

 Fragm. viii. 118. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, Shoal water, E.Brown; Eockhampton, O'Shanesy ; 

 and various localities in South Queensland, Leichhardt and many others. 



4. P. argentea (silvery), Trin. in Bull. Sc. Acad. Petersb. i. 71. Stems 2 to 

 3ft. high or sometimes more, the nodes not bearded. Leaves narrow, often 

 sprinkled with a few long hairs, and ciliate at the orifice of the sheaths. Spikes 

 usually more than 3 and sometimes many, clustered at the end of the peduncle, 

 3 to 4in. long, slender, the silky hairs of the rhachis and pedicels shorter than 

 the spikelets. Spikelets about 1^ line long, the sessile and pedicellate ones 

 similar. Outer glume membranous, truncate or 2-toothed, faintly-nerved, 

 bordered by long cilia, 2nd narrower, scarcely ciliate, 3rd nearly as long, almost 

 acute. Awn or terminal glume fine, scarcely |^in. long, the hyaline base 

 very narrow with small narrow terminal lobes. — Duthie In. Gr. PI. liii ; 

 Erianthus Roxburghii, F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 117; PoUinia tristachya, Thw, 

 Enam. Ceyl. PI. 368; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 547. 



Hab.: Rockingham Bay, Dallachy. 

 Common in East India. 



83. ISCH.ffiMUM, Linn, 



(Woolly seeds of a species said to have been used to stop blood.) 



(Spodiopogon, Trin.; Meoschium, Bsaitu. ; Hologamium, Nees.) 



Spikelets in pairs in the alternate notches of the articulate flexuose rhachis of 

 simple spikes, 1 sessile with 1 hermaphrodite terminal flower and a male one 

 below it, the other pedicellate and either similar or with only 1 hermaphrodite or 

 1 or 2 male flowers or reduced to empty glumes, the spikes either solitary or 2 or 

 more, sessile or nearly so at the end of the common peduncle. Glumes in the 

 sessile spikelet 4, tlie outer one the largest, awnless, truncate or 2-toothed at the 

 top ; 2nd glume keeled and sometimes produced into a short straight awn, 3rd 

 glume rather smaller, thin, enclosing a palea and 3 stamens; terminal glume a 



