Polypggon.\ aRAMiNE^. 437 



times very shoi-t. Flowering glume shorter, with or without an awn. Palea 

 smaller and thin. Grain oblong or linear. 



A small genus very widely distributed over the globe. 



1. P. littoralis, Sm.; KuniJi, Enum. i. 233. Stems procumbent at the 

 base, ascending to a foot or more. Leaves flat, rather flaccid. Panicle con- 

 tracted.into a dense cylindiical or branched spike, 1 to 3 in. long, of a pale or 

 purplish gi-een. Spikelets about 1 line long. Outer glumes notched at the 

 top, with an awn usually reduced to a very short point, and seldom as long as 

 the glume. Flowering glume awnless. 



Hongkong, Earland, Usually a seacoast plant, scattered here and there on the shores of 

 the Atlantic, and Mediterranean, but also found in Affghanistan, in various parts of N. India, 

 and in Japan. 



33. ARISTIDA, Linn, 



Spikelets 1-flowered, cylindrical, pedicellate in a raceme or panicle. Outer 

 empty glumes 3, pointed or shortly awned. Flowering glume convolute with 

 3 terminal awns. Palea minute. Grain cylindrical, enclosed in the flowering 

 glume. 



A large genus, widely distributed over the warmer regions of the New and the Old World, 

 chiefly in dry or sterile localities. 



1. A. chinensis, Munro in Proo. Amer. Acad. iv. 363. Stems slender, 

 erect, 1 to 3 ft. high, with flue convolute leaves. Panicle loose, 8 in. to 1 ft. 

 long ; the long slender branches solitary or in pairs, with a tuft of hairs in 

 their axils. Spikelets not numerous, slender, 4 or B lines long without the 

 awns, which are \ in. more. Outer glumes very pointed, the lowest longer 

 than the second. Flowering glume neither twisted nor articulate at the top, 

 the awns not plumose. 



Hongkong, Eance, Sarland, Wright ; and in other islands of the Canton river, but not 

 known out of S. China. 



33. ARUNDO, Linn. 



Spikelets 2- or more-flowered, with long silky hairs on the axis and flower- 

 ing glumes, all pedicellate in a large much branched panicle. Glumes thin, 

 keeled, distichous and distant, 3 outer ones empty, the flowering ones as 

 long or rather longer, pointed or shortly awned, the terminal one small, empty 

 or rudimental. Palea small.— Tall reeds. 



A small genus, widely distributed over the warmer regions of the Old World. 



1. A. madagascariensis, Kmth, Enum. i. 347. A stout handsome 

 perennial, 6 ft. high or more. Leaves rather nan-ow. Panicle li ft. long, 

 with veiy numerous spikelets about 3 lines long. Flowering glumes usually 4 

 or 5, about l^ lines long, ciHate with long white hairs on the inner edges, the 

 fine awns seldom so long as themselves. — A. Reynaudiam, Kunth ; Steud. Syn. 

 Gram. 194. 



Common in the island. Champion and others. In northern and eastern India, m the 

 Archipelago, the Philippines and China, and in tropical Africa. 



34. PHRAGMITES, Trin. 

 Characters and habit of Arundo, except that the lowest flower is usually 

 male, and that the sillqr hairs are all on the axis not on the glumes, which 

 are often more herbaceous than in Arundo. 



