A.iii^opogon.'] CLXXiii. gramine^. (J. D, Hooker.) 187 



Throughout the Plains and Lower Hills of India, Buema and Obtioh, 

 ascending to 4000 ft. — Distsib. Java, Afr. trop. 



Stems 2-5 ft., in large, dense tufts with stout spongy aromatic roots, sparingly 

 branched, as thick below as a goose-quill. Leaves 1-2 ft., subbifarious, narrow 

 acute, erect, keeled, glabrous, margins scabrid; sheaths equitant, glabrous; ligule 

 obscure. Panicle 4-12 in., conical, erect, rachis stout and erecto-patent filiform 

 flexuous branches glabrous or scaberulous. Spikes slender, joints and pedicels about 

 = the sessile spikelets. Sessile spikelets grey green yellow or purplish, J-J in., 

 slightly curved, glabrous, callus obscurely bearded ; gl. I coriaceous, acute, 2-4- 

 nerved ; II coriaceous, 1-nerved, margins hyaline, keel muricate ; III lanceolate, 

 acuminate, 2-nerved, margins indexed ciliolate ; IV = III ciliate j palea very small, 

 obtuse, glabrous. Pedioelled spikelets like the sessile but gl. I smooth, IV awnlesa. 

 — Ehus-khns grass. 



41. A. Xiawsonl; Sooh.f. ; stem erect from a stout rootstook, leaves 

 narrowly linear curved acute or obtuse tips serrulate, sheaths compressed, 

 panicle narrow elongate branches erect, spikes pale, joints 6-8 and pedicels 

 slender obliquely truncate, gl. I linear rigid keels muricate dorsally flat 

 scaberulous margins inflexed, II awned keel pectinately ciliate above the 

 middle, IV 2-toothed awned. 



Mysore; at Bandypore, dlt. 3000 ft., in moist ground, Lawson. 



Rootstoch horizontal ; stems simple, slender, internodes very long. Leaves chiefly 

 subradical, 2-5 by i in., exactly linear, rigid, base not contracted, margins ciliate, 

 nerves 4^8 strong ; sheath of lower very short, of cauline very long, striate ; ligule a 

 ridge of hairs. Panicle 6-7 in., branches or peduncles of spikes opposite and fascicled, 

 and branchlets slender puberulous with a white scurf. Spikes J— J in., pale reddish, 

 erect ; joints very obliquely truncate, tips obscurely ciliate, and pedicels nearly = 

 spikelet, slender, compressed. Sessile spikelets ^ in., linear-lanceolate, callus bearded 

 with silky hairs ; gl. I coriaceous, tip obtuse, bristly ; II cymbiform, tip 2-fid, awn 

 longer than the gl., base ciliate ; III oblong, ciliate, nerveless ; IV arched, linear, 

 obtusely 2-toothed, awn very slender ; palea oblong, ciliate, nerveless. Anthers long. 

 Pedicelled spikelets male, longer and narrower than the sessile, callus naked, gl. I 

 3-nerved, awned, keels pectinately ciliate ; II acuminate, awned ; III and IV oblong, 

 obtuse, ciliate. — The tips of the branchlets bearing the spikes have a few short 

 unequal bristles, showing an approach to those of Chrysopogon. 



Subgen. VII. OsaTSOPOGON, Sack. Spikes of 3 spikelets, solitary or 

 subsolitary (1-4 in G. Qryllns) on the capillary whorled branches ot an 

 erect or inclined panicle ; branches with obconic obliquely truncate tips 

 crowned with a ring or beard of stiff hairs. Spikelets 3-nate, a sessile 

 bisexual, and 2 pedicelled males or neuters. Sessile spikelets narrow, 

 laterally compressed ; gl. I narrow, linear, rigid, erect, 4-nerved, usually 

 laterally compressed ; II broader, laterally compressed, obtusely keeled, 3- 

 nerved, tip 2-lobed awned or not ; III hyaline, 2-nerved ; IV the narrow 

 hyaline 1-3-nerved base of a long awn. Pedicelled spikelets dorsally com- 

 pressed ; gls. I and II awned or not. — Ligule of minute hairs in all. 



The only subgenus with the tips of the branches of the panicle bearded, as best 

 seen after the fall of the spike. The genus has a better claim to be retained than 

 most of AndropogoneiB. The species are, with the exception of the first two, very 

 difficult of definition, and must be regarded as merely provisionally established. 



* Pedicels of the upper spikelets half as long as the sessile spikelet or 

 Ipnger. 



t Pedicels of the upper spikelets glabrous or nearly so. 



42. A. Gryllus, Linn. Cent. PI. ii. 33 ; stem simple, panicle large. 



