Tricholcena.] olxxiii. graminb^. (J. D. Hooker.) 65 



A genus the characters of which cannot be satisfactorily determined till a great 

 many indetermined species are examined. It differs from Panicum in the villous or 

 silky awned spikeleta with membrandus glumes. The two Indian species differ 

 remarkably in the form of gl. lY. 



1. T. TeneriffiBB, Pa/rlat. in Webb l( Berth. Phyt. Ganar. iii. 425, Fl. 

 Hal. i. 130 ; perennial, gl. I minute or obsolete, lY se^^sile ovate-lanceolate 

 acuminate margins incurved. T. miorantha, Schrad. in Sch. Mant. 

 ii. 163; Nees in Ann. So. Nat. Ser. II vi. (1836) 106. Panicum 

 plumosum, Presl Fl. Sic. i. 43. P. aaccharoides, Trin. Gram. Pania. 

 245. P. TenerifEsB, Br. Prodr. 189 ; Xunt/i Enum. PI. i. 98, Swppl. 75. 

 P. villosum, Presl Gram. & Cyp. 8ic. 18. Sacoharum TeneriSse, lAnn. f. 

 Suppl. 106; Jacq.f. Fclog. Gram. 61, t. 34 {excl. 8yn.) ; Biv. Bern. Stirp. 

 Sic. Bar. iv. 5, t. 1. Sibth. Fl. Grsec. i. t. 53 {excl. Anal.). Agrostis 

 plumosa, Ten. Fl. Nap. Prodr. Sv-ppl. i. 69. 



Western Panjab, 'Ealconer; alt. 3500 ft., Stewart. SoiND, StocJes. — DlSTRlB. 

 Westward to Sicily and N. Africa. 



Stems many from a woody stock, geniculate below, slender, rigid. Leaves very 

 slender, convolute, rigid, glabrous ; mouth of sheath bearded; ligule, a narrow mem- 

 brane. Panicle 2—4 in. rather open, branchlets and pedicels capillary. Spikelets 

 ■fxri '"•' white or purplish, silky with spreading hairs ; gls. II and III ovate acute 

 or mucronate, concave ; lY articulate at the base, white or brown, shining. 



2. T. Wig'Iitii, Nees & Am. ex Steud. Syn. Gram. 93 ; annual, gl. I 

 very small linear, IV ellipsoid obtuse convolute. Nees in Wight Cat. n. 

 2345 ; Lisloa in Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. 8oc. v. (1890) 347. T. miorantha, 

 Schrad. in Sch. Mant. ii. 163 ; Schmidt Beitr. Fl. Gap. Verd. 153. T. 

 tuberculosa, Sack. mss. Bhyncbelytrum Wightii, Buthie Fodd. Grass. 

 N. Ind. 21. Panicum megalanthum, Steud. Syn. Gram. 93. Saccharum 

 TeuerifEas, Pa/rl. in HooH. Niger Flora, 183 {emcl. Syn.). Aira chinenais, 

 Betz. Obs. iii. 10.— Triobolsena, Wall. Cat. n. 8660. 



Rajpootana ; Ajmeer and Oodeypore, Duthie. The Deccan, Seyne, Wight. — 

 DiSTBlB. Arabia, Cape Yerd Islds. 



Stems 6-18 in., tufted, stont or slender. Leaves 1-3 in., linear, acuminate, flat, 

 and sheaths glabrous or hairy j ligule obsolete. Panicle 2-4 in., very narrow ; 

 branches and pedicels capillary, flexuous. Spikelets very variable in size, ^-| in. 

 long ; stipitiform callus gibbous, bearded j gl. I -f-^-^ in. linear-oblong, obtuse, 

 concave spreading ; II and III tumid below, snbrostrate, awned below the acute or 

 obtuse tip, nerves smooth or tubercledj awn very slender, not twisted, longer than 

 the gl. or shorter, palea of III narrow, keels ciliate ; lY very thin, margins often 

 overlapping. — The great variability in the size of the spikeleta is very deceptive. 

 It is not known where in the Deccan Heyne's and Wight's specimens were collected. 



11. OPXiXSnX&NUS, Beauv. 



Weak grasses ; stems decumbent below, leafy. Leaves tbin, flat, ovate 

 to lanceolate; ligule a ridge of hairs. Spikelets 1-fld., sessile or subsessile, 

 fascicled on a simple terminal spike or oa panicled spikes. Glumes 4, 

 I short, 3-nerved, long-awned, awn straight ; II short, awn short or ; 

 III longest, 5-nerved, paleate or not, empty ; IV lanceolate, terete and 

 with its palea hardened. Siamens 3, anthers linear. Styles distinct. 

 Grain free within the glumes. — Species few, very variable. 



Of the 30 or more reputed species of OpUsmenus, Biirmannii and compositus seem 

 VOL. VII. i' 



