300 



family. The seeds of one species from the Dang are highly valued, 

 and are made into bread ; while the young, tender shoots are eaten 

 as a vegetable. The curious siliceous mineral called Tabasheer, 

 which becomes transparent when soaked in water, is found in the 

 hollows of the joints of several species. 



Section Rottb(elliace^. 



23. OROPETIUM, Trin. 



1. O Thom^cm, Trin. Fund. 98. — Culms'erect, compressed, 

 1 inch high ; leaves bifarious, numerous, somewhat setaceous ; 

 spikes terminal, solitary, subulate, distichous, compressed ; flowers 

 in the excavations of the rachis all hermaphrodite. Grows on old 

 walls. Syn. Nardus thomsea, Linn. Suppl. 105 ; Rottboellia thomaja, 

 WiUd. sp. i. 464 ; R pilosa, Willd. loc. cit. 



24. OPHIURUS, Gaert. 



1. O CoRYMBOsus, Gaert. Carp, iii, 4. — A tall, coarse Grass, 

 3 to 5 feet high ; culms erect, round, rigid, leafy at the base ; leaves 

 narrow, 8 to 10 inches long, ciliated at the base ; spikes axillary, 

 somewhat fascicled, filiform, the joints alternately flower-bearing ; 

 flowers in the excavations of the rachis ; exterior glume entire, 

 smooth. Syn. Rottbcellia corymbosa, Linn. Suppl. J 14; R punctata, 

 Retz. Obs. iii, 12; jEgilops exaltata, Linn. Mant. 575. In pastures 

 in Gujarat and the Deccan. 



25. MANISURUS, Linn. 



1. M Granularis, Swartz Fl. Ind. i, 186. — Root fibrous; 

 culm branched, erect, 6 inches to one foot high, with the nodes 

 hairy ; sheaths subinflated, papillose and hairy ; leaves lanceolate, 

 subcordate at the base, ciliated on the margin, 1 to 3 inches long, 

 3 to 5 lines broad ; spikes from the sheaths sohtary or several 

 . together, unequally peduncled, ^ to 1 inch long ; glume of the 

 fertile flower very hard, rugose and tubercled. Very common on 

 barren land. Grows also in Africa and the West Indies. 



Section Andropogoneje. 



26. ANDROPOGON, Linn. 



1. A CoNTORTUs, Linn. — Gulm erect, branched 1 to 2 feet high, 

 between round and two-edged ; sheaths and nodes smooth ; leaves 

 flat, setaceous, acuminated, rough to the touch ; spike solitary, 



