Fanieum,'] olxxiii. gbaminb^. (J. D. Hooker.) 55 



Cuming's n. 2284, Miquel Bays, stem villous under the panicle. Benth. (Fl. Hongk.) 

 refers concirmum to sarmentosv/m, and includes incomptum. I do not lind the 

 Hongkong specimen in Herb. Kew. There are no speiimens of this in Herb. Linn. 

 Soc. and Wallich's ticket No. 8709 has A. Hb. Finlaysou, B. Silhet, C. Penang, 

 D. Tavoy, E. Singapore. 



Sect. VII. Ptychophylltjm. (See p. 28.) 



48. P. pllcatum, Lanik. Encycl.rv. 736 ; perennial, leaves plicate from 

 linear-lanceolate to elliptio-oblong, panicle elongate lax-fld., branchlets 

 often ending in a stifE bristle, gl. I := ^ III or more orbicnlar-ovate 5- 

 nerved, II = 4 IV or longer 5-7-nerved obtuse, III = IV dorsally flattened 

 acute 5-9-nerved, IV ovate-lanceolate rugulose. Jacq. JEclog. Gram. i. t. 

 1 ; Trin. Gram. Panic. 183, Gen. Pan. 161, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 223 ; Xunth 

 Enum. PI. i. 94 ; Wall. Cat. n. 8705 ; Griff. Noiul. iii. 24, Ic. PI. Asiat. t. 

 139, fig. 229 ; Thw. JSrmm. PI. Zeyl. 360 {excl. P. costafum) ; Trim. Gat. 

 Ceyl. PI. 105; Buthie Grass. N.W. Ind. 6, Fodd. Grass. N. Ind. 11; 

 Benth. Fl. Hongie. 411 ; Anderss. in Walp. Ann. vi. 944. P. amplissimnm, 

 Steud. I. c. 54. P. asperatum, Kunth Kevis. Gram. i. 39, Enum,. PI. I. c. 

 39 ; Miqutl Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 456. P. excurrens, Trin. Pan. Gen. 131, 249, 

 8p. Gram. Ic. t. 49 ; Kunth Enum. i. 94 ; Benth. Fl. Bongk. 412, excl. ayn. 

 P. Kleinianum, Nees ex Anderss. in WaVp. Ann. vi. 946. P lene, Steud. 

 I. c. 54. P. mauritianum, Willd. ex Bpreng. Syst. i. 305. P. nepalenae, 

 Spreng. I. c. 321 ; Kunth Enum. i. 94 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 291 ; 

 Aitchis. Cat. Pannjab PI. 160 ; Miq. I. c. 448. P. nervosum, Boxh. Fl. Ind. 

 i. 311 ; Wall. Cat. n. 8702. P. neurodes, Bchult. Mant. ii. 228 ; Wight 

 Cat. ji. 1647; Anderss. I.e. 945; Duthie Grass. N.W. Ind. 5. P. paucise- 

 tnm, Steud. I. c. 52. P. palmifolium, Koen. in Natwrforsch. xxiii. (1788) 

 208 ; Kunth Enum. 93 ; Anderss. I. c. 945. P. Wallichianum, Nees Fl. 

 Afr. Austr. 49 ; Miq. I. c. 449.— Panicnm, Wall. Cat. n. 8703. 



Throiighont the moister hilly parts of India, from Kdmaon in the Himalaya 

 eastward, ascending to 5000 ft. in Sieeik, the Shan Hills in BuBMi, the NiL- 

 GHiBis, alt. 6000 ft., the Malay PbnihscIiA, and Ceylon. — Distbib. China, 

 Malay Islands. 



Stem 1-8 ft., erect or ascending from a woody branched stock, from the thickness 

 of a sparrow's to a swan's quill, leafy. Leaves 6-24 by ^—4 in., finely acuminate, 

 sessile on the sheath or petioled, membranous or chartaceous, glabrous or sparsely 

 hairy ; sbcath sometimes hispid, mouth ciliate'; ligule short. Pomicle thyrsoid, striate 

 and erect with short branches, or effuse and drooping, 1-2 ft. long, with branches 2-4 in. 

 long (spiciform in reduced states) ; branches, pedicels and their setiferous scabrid tips 

 green or purplish. SpiJcelets ^ in., ovoid ; gl. I = i III or less, very broadly ovate, 

 obtuse or acute, 5-7-nerved, paleate or not, male or neuter j IV acuminate, coriaceous, 

 more or less rngulose. — Afccr a study of an immense suite of specimens of this species 

 from all parts of India, I am unable to follow Andersson (in Walp. Ann. 1. c.) in his 

 separation of it into plicatum, palmifoUum, nev/todes and the seven vars. of the latter. 

 These are, I think, all forms chiefly dependent on climate and age. Lamark's P. 

 •pUcaimm was described (1797) from a cultivated specimen of uncertain origin 

 (Mauritius or St. Domingo), but Jacquin's excellent figure of it leaves no doubt of 

 its identity with the Indian plant, for it resembles no American one. It has been 

 widely cultivated for nearly a century, and » garden specimen in Beutham's Herb, 

 supports the identification. I doubt P. palmifolium of Poiret being specifically 

 difierent, it is described from an E. Indian specimen, though Grisebach (Fl. Brit. 

 Ind. 547) identifies it with the W. Indian P. sulcatum, Aubl. Grisebach distinguishes 

 palmifolium from plicatum by gl. II of the latter shorter than IV, and longer in 

 palmifolium, but I find this a most variable character and not borne out by the 



