Mdropngon,] clxxiii. graminb^. (J. D. Hooker.) 185 



quite smooth. Leaves i-J in. broad, flaccid, flat, margins smooth, nerves 3-5 on 

 each side of the slender midrib ; sheaths of lower short open, of the upper long 

 rather loose, quite glabrous ; ligule very short, membranous, glabrous. Panicle 2-4 

 in. ■ rachis and branches stiff, angular, subscaberulous, rather stout, green. Spikes of 

 1-3 pairs of rather distant white spikelets j joints = f the sessile spikelet, stout, shortly 

 villous truncate, pedicels= ^ the spikelet, more slender. Sessile ipi&elet terete ; callus 

 very short, stellately bearded with white hairs j gl. I and II very coriaceous both with 

 strongly incurved sides, nerves very slender with many cross -nervules ; III oblong, 

 truncate, hyaline, 2-nerved, ciliate ; IV short' subrhomboidal, cleft to the middle into 

 triangular acute ciliate lobes; awn in the cleft i in., smooth, slender; palea linear*, 

 oblong, ciliate, nerveless. yinthersXong. Pedioelled sp&eletsyeiy navTow, imperfect, 

 neater, gl. I lanceolate, 9-nerved, bicuspidate ; II shorter, 5-nerved. — A closely 

 allied species, with similarly densely silky white spikelets, has been collected by 

 Lunt in Southern Arabia, where it is stated to be cultivated. It is a stout plant 

 with much larger leaves and the habit of the ordinary Sorghum. The spikelets 

 are shorter and broader than in A. Stapfii, and are collected in a dense oblong 

 panicle. 



38. A. serratus, Thunh. Fl. Jap. 41 ; tall, erect, leaves narrowly 

 linear, base narrow, lower branches of subsimple narrow elongate panicles 

 whorled, spikes solitary 2-8-jointed, joints pedicels and callus shortly 

 Tillous with rufous or purple hairs, sessile spikelets j—^ in. ovoid ellipsoid 

 or lanceolate, gl. I rufously hirsute towards the pale tip and sides, IV 

 shortly awned or awnlesa. Hack. Monogr. Androp. 520 ; Qrah. Oat. Bomb. 

 Fl. 238. 



Throughout India, on the hills and plains from the Panjab to Burma, and 

 southward to Cetion and the NicoBiB Islds. — Disteib. Asia and Austral trop. 



Perennial. Stem 3-4 ft., subsimple, nodes bearded. Leaves 4-20 by i-f in., 

 setaceoasly acuminate, glabrous or sparsely hairy on both surfaces, hairs often 

 tubercle-based, midrib broad ; sheaths terete below keeled upward, more or less 

 hairy ; mouth silkily villous ; ligule very short, truncate. Panicle 4-12 in., oblong, 

 rachis glabrous ; branches capillary, about equalling the spikes, glabrous or scabernlous, 

 whorls distant. Spikes i-lj in., red-brown ; joints and pedicels = J the sessile 

 spikelets, margins shortly villous. Sessile spikelets, callus acute ; gl. I coriaceous, 

 dark brown or nearly black, glabrous and polished on the middle dorsally, tips pale ; 

 II rather longer, lanceolate, acute, l-nerved, hairy upwards ; III shorter, lanceolate, 

 acute J IV small, oblong, entire or 2-lobed, awned or not. Lodieules ciliate. Fedioelled 

 ijJtWete narrower than the sessile, paler, hairy ; gl. I 7-nerved; II 3-nerved ; III 

 and IV linear, ciliate. — Roxburgh does not seem to have known this grass. 



Var. genuinus, Hack. ; gl. IV of sessile spikelet 2-lobed, awned in the cleft. A. 

 serratus, Thunb. I. c. (non Mete). A. laxus, Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 907 {non Boxl.) ; 

 Steuil. SyM. Gram. 391. A. tropicus, Spreng. Syst. Teg. i. 287 ; Kunth Mnum. PI. 

 i. 503 (non Kunth) ; Thw. Enum. PI. Zeyl. 366 ; Benth. Fl. Bongk. 423. 

 A. dichroanthus, Steud. in Zoll. 8i/st. Verz. 58. Sorghum fulvum, Beauv. ex 

 koem. Jt Sch. Syst. ii. 840 ; Benth. Ft. Austral, vii. 541 ; Trim. Cat. Ceyl. PI. 108. 

 S. Jnnghuhnii, Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. iii. 783. Holcus fulvus, Br. Prodr. 199. 



Var. nitidus. Hack. ; gl. IV. of sessile spikelet entire not awned. A . consimilis 

 and pedicellatus, Steud. Syn. Oram. 394. A. fuscus, Fresl Bel Hmik. i. 342; 

 Kunth I. c. 502. A. nigrum. Herb. Mam. in Wall. Cat. n. 8777 E. A. nitidus, Euntfi 

 Revis. Gram. i. 166, Em«OT. I. c. 510. Sorghum halepense. Wall. Cat. 8878 B. G. ; 

 Wight Cat. n. 2350. S. muticum, Nees iri Herl. Wight ; Aitchis. Cat. Panjab. PI. 

 lib; Duthie Grass. If.W. Ind. 23. Chrysopogon fuscus. Trim, ex Steud. Nam. Ed. 

 II. i. 360. Holcus quinqueflorus, Merb. Ram. ex Wall. Cat. n. 8778 G.— 

 Andropogon, Wall. Cat. n. 8879. 



39. A. purpureo-sericeus, HocJist. ex A. BicJi. Tent. Fl. Abyss. 

 ii. 469 ; annual, robust, upper nodes villous, branches of subsimple panicle 



