122 OLXXiii. GRAMINE^. (J. D. Hooker.) [Erianthus. 



sheath hairy ; ligiile silkily villous. Panicle 1-3 ft., erect or inclined, greyish-white 

 with silkily villous hairs ; spikes (terminal branchlets) about \ in., joints and pedicels 

 filiform, half as long as the spikelets or more, ciliate with long hairs. Spikelets pale ; 

 gl. I with one or both margins incurved, nerves 1-3 between the keels; JI rather 

 longer, acuminate or aristulate, 3 -nerved, keel scabrid; III lanceolate, ciliate, 1- 

 nerved, hyaline; IV glabrous or ciliolate, S-nervcd, rarely awnless; palea shorter, 

 ovate-lanceolate, glabrous. Pedicelled spikelet, gl. I strongly 2-3-nerved, villous 

 below as is gl. II. — A very varial)Ie grass in stature, colour of the hairs of the panicle, 

 size of the spikelets, and length of the awn. 



Var. purpurascens, Hack. I.e. ; spikelets more or less tipped with violet or purple. 

 E. purpurascens, Anderss. I. u. 161.— Common in N.W. India. 



2. E. Griffithll, Rooh.f. ; leaves very narrow rigid semiterete concave 

 above, ligule long, panicle oblong very pale, callus densely villous with 

 spreading hairs as long as the lanceolate acuminate or acute spikelet, gl. I 

 and II dorsally villous, keels spinalose, IV ovate-lanceolate ciliate narrowed 

 into the short awn. Saccharum Griffithii, Munro ex Aitohis. in Journ. 

 Linn. Soc. xix. (1882) 191 {name only). S. ciliare, var. /3. Griflathii, Rack. 

 Monogr. And,rop. 119. S. Sara, Aitchis. I. v. ex Hack. I. c. 



Pesbawur, Stewart. Westekn Tibet ; below Boudu, Thomson. — Disteib, 

 Affghanistan, Beluchistan. 



Stem tall, tufted, glabrous, solid, as thick as a swan's quill, quite glabrous, pale, 

 polished. Leaves 2-3 ft. by J-J in., thickly coriaceous, rigid, quite smooth, dorsally 

 rounded, upper surface concave, margins scaberulous; sheath smooth, polished, 

 shining ; ligule long, ciliate with long hairs. Panicle 6-12 in., contracted, thyr- 

 siform, inclined, pale yellow when dry ; rachis glabrous ; lower branches 1-2 in.,_ 

 joints about | as long as the spikelets and pedicels villous with long pale hairs. 

 Spikelets pale, often tipped with purple ; callus hairs about as long as the spikelets, 

 or shorter, white or pale brownish ; gls. I and II subequal ; I 3-nerved, margins 

 narrowly incurved, scabrid ; II rather longer, acuminate ; III lanceolate, 1-nerved, 

 hyaline, margins long-ciliate ; IV as long as III, 3-nerved, narrowed into a slioit 

 included or shortly exserted awn; palea much shorter than the g'.., more or less 

 ciliate. — Referred to Saeeharum ciliare (arundinaceum) by Hackel, from which the 

 awned gl. IV at once distinguishes it, and much more closely allied to lErianthus 

 Bavennce, differing in the pale straw-colour of its stem, leaves and panicle, rigid 

 ■i-terete leaves concave on the upper surface, long ligule, and dorsally hairy gl. I and 

 II. Griffith., Itinerary Notes, 317 (n. 1198) describes this as a large grass, 6-7 ft. 

 high, with white spikes, very common at 5000 ft. at Jugdnlluk (Afighanistan). 



8. E. elephautinus, Hooh. f. ; gigantic, leaves broad flat, panicle 

 very large supradecompound, spikelets tV-jV i^-> tairs of callus as long as 

 the gls. or longer, grey or purplish, gl I narrowly ovate-lanceolate dorsally 

 sparsely hairy keels scabrid, II lanceolate acuminate subaristate 1-nerved, 

 IV shorter than I ovate-lanceolate 3-nerved eciliate narrowed into a shortly 

 exserted awn. 



Assam, Griffith, Simonds. 



Stem very tall and stout, as thick as the middle finger below the panicle, quite 

 smooth, glabrous. Leaf (upper) two or more feet long by J in. broad, quite smooth 

 on both surfaces, margins serrulately scabrid ; sheath several feet long ; ligule of 

 long straight hairs. Panicle 14 in. long, oblong, inclined ; rachis as thick as the 

 little finger below, glabrous, polished ; lower nodes 4 in. apart, branches numerous, 

 lower fascicled and half -whorled 6-8 in. long. Spilces few-fld., capillary, fragile ; 

 joints and pedicels half as long as the spikelets or longer, villously ciliate, tops cnpular. 

 Spikelets ovate-lanceolate, pale ; gl. I and II subequal, membranous ; I lanceolate, 

 acuminate, tip minutely 2-toothed, dorsally flat, with one median nerve, margins 

 narrowly incurved ; II ciliate ; III as long as I, hyaline but stiff, 1-nerved, ciliate, 

 margins incurved ; IV shorter than III, quite glabrous ; palea nearly as long as the 



