182 CLXxm. GBAMiNEa. (J. D. Hooker.) [Andropogon: 



above, involtite below ; II awnless ; III hyaline, 2-nerved ; IV entire or 

 2-fid and awned in the cleft, rarely awnless. Lodicuhs (in the Indian 

 species) ciliate. 



35. A. halepensls, Brot. Fl. Lusit. i. 89 ; perennial, tall, stoat or 

 slender, panicle decompound, rachis of spike fragile, joints bearing a 

 circular scar with entire margins, pedicelled spikelets usually male about 

 as long but narrower than the sessile, pedicel = ^ the sessile spikelet. 

 Sibth. Fl. Orsec. i. t. 68 ; Kunth Enum. PL i. 502, Suppl. 413, t. 40, f. 1 ; 

 Sfeud. fiyn. Oram. 394; Thw. Enum. PI. Zeyl. 366. A. arundinaceus. 

 Scop. PI. Cam. Ed. ii. 274. A. avenaceus, H. B. & K. Nov. Gen. §■ Sp. 

 i. 189. A. controversus & dubitatus, Steud. Syn. Oram. 391, 894. A. 

 laxus, Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 271 (non Willd.). A. miliaoeus, Boxb. Z. c. 272;j 

 Sack. Monogr. Androp. 541. A. miliformis, SchuU. Mant. ii. 448. A. 

 Sorghum, subsp. halepensis, Hack. I. c. 501. Sorghum oapense, Serb. 

 Seyne ex Wall. Gat. n. 8778 0. S. duHum, 0. Koch in Linnsea, xxi. 

 (1848) 443. S. gigauteum, Edgew. in Journ. As. 8oc. Beng. (1852) 181. 

 S. halepense, Pers. 8yn. 101 ; Beichh. Ic. Fl. Germ. t. 54; T. Nees Gen. Fl. 

 Germ. Monocot. i. n. 54, t. 91 ; Nees Fl. Afr. Austr. 88 ; Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. 

 Ind. 560 ; Benth. Fl. Austral, vii. 640 ; Wall. Cat. n. 8778 ; Trim. Oat. Oeyl. 

 PL 108; Aitchis. Oat. Pamjab. PI. 175; ButUe Grass. N.W. Ind. 23, 

 Fodd. Grass. iV. Ind. 40, t. 27. S. saccharatum, Sohen. PI. Nilghiri, n. 

 1284 [non Pers.). S. Schreberi, Tenore Fl. Neap. 8yll. App. iv. 4. Blumen- 

 bachia halepensis, Soel. Bescr. Gram. 29. Trachypogon avenaceus, Nees 

 Agrost. Bras. 354. Holcus halepensis, Linn. Sp. PI. 1047 ; Sost Oram. 

 Austr. i. t. 1 ; Schreh. Beschr. Grses. i. t. 18 ; Jaeq. E/ilog. Gram. t. 48. 

 H. decolorans, Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 931. H. Oatamuoha, Sam. ex Wall. Gat. 

 n. 8778 ff. 



Throughout India, Bttema and Ceylon in open places. — Distbib. Most warm 

 countries. 



Hoots creeping, stoloniferons. Stem 3-15 ft., erect, leafy, simple or branched, 

 nodes pubescent. Leaves 8-18 in., or more, up to 3 in. broad, narrowed to the rounded 

 base, tip iiliferous, glabrous except towards the often Tillous base, flat or waved, midrib 

 broad, margins scabridly serrulate ; sheath terete ; ligule rounded. Faniele 6 in. 

 2 ft., very variable in form and amount of ramification, typically pyramidal with long 

 siiberect or spreading or drooping whorled branches, axils often bearded. Spikes of 

 1-3 rarely 5-7 pairs of spikelets, sometimes reduced to a triplet of a sessile fertile 

 and 2 pedicelled male rarely neuter spikelets, joints of rachis and pedicels angular 

 or compressed, glabrous or shortly ciliate. Sessile spikelets \ to nearly } in., 

 usually lanceolate, green or purplish, callus sparsely bearded ; gl. I with involnte 

 sides embracing the others, more or less silkily hairy, rarely glabrous, 5-11 -nerved 

 above, there keeled and ciliate tip depressed or not hyaline j II subcoriaceous, char- 

 taceous and keeled above, margins cUiolate ; III shorter, elliptic-oblong, hyaline 

 2-nerved ; IV smaller, ovate, obtuse, entire or 2-fid, awned or not, awn i-i in. or 

 shorter; palea linear-oblong, obtuse, ciliate. PediceHed sjjfteleis linear- lanceolate, gl. 

 I glabrous, 5-9-nerved, margins inflexed, keels subpectinately ciliate ; II lanceolate, 3-^- 

 nerved ; III and IV, if present, hyaUne. — I have restricted the synonymy of this grass 

 chiefly to Indian names, and those under which good figures are given. It is no 

 doubt the wild form of the following (A. Sorghum) and its grain has long been used 

 by natives of India. Bat whether the Sorghum form originated from cultivation of the 

 wild in India, or in Africa, where both are very common, can be only a matter 

 of conjecture. Both seem to be now cultivated in India according to Watt (Diet, 

 of Economic Products of India) and others, and transition forms are frequent. 

 Hackel, who treats A. halepensis as a subspecies of A. Sorghum, subdivides it under 

 5 varieties and 6 subvarieties, founded on characters too variable for use. Dr. Stapf, 

 who bus studied the African species as well as the Indian, proposes 2 varieties, or 



