204 OLxxiii. GBAMiNE^. (J. D. Hooker.) [Andropogon. 



this J whether the African plant of that name is the same is doubtful. I have 

 not seen the Scind specimens of A. commutatus alluded to by Hackel (Mohogr. 

 613) J it is not probable that they differ from Stocks' plant. 



tt Joints of spikes and pedicels of upper s^ikelets villous or ciliate on 

 the sides, hairs not concealing the sessile spikelets, dorsally glabrous or 

 sparsely rarely copiously hairy. 



§ Leaf-sheaths terete. 



71. A. Scbcenanthus; Linn. Sp. PI. 1046 ; sessile spikelets ovate- 

 or obovate-oblong dorsally flat or nearly so with a deep narrow longi- 

 tudinal cleft in the centre usually below the middle and answering to a 

 ventral median rib, keels narrowly winged from or from above the middle, 

 II acute keel with a serrulate wing above the middle; Kunth Enuw,. PI. 

 i. 493 ; Grah. Gat. Bomb. PI. 238 : Duthie Gh-ass. N. W. Ind. 21, Fodd. Grass. 

 N. Ind. 38, t. 26. 



Hotter parts of India, wild or cultivated, from the Panjab to Burma and 

 southwd. to Travanoore and Oeylon.— Disteib. Westwd. to tropical Africa. 



Annual ? Stem 3-6 ft., erect. Leaves long, broad or narrow, finely acuminate 

 glaucous or pruinose, smooth or margins scaberulous, base rounded or cordate and 

 ample;cicaul j sheath glabrous ; ligule oblong, scarious. Panicle elongate, 1-2 ft. 

 long, dense or lax, compound or decompound, rarely subsimple ; proper spathes as 

 long as the spikes, which are as long as the peduncle or shorter. Spikes unequal, 

 one 3-4-jointed, the other 4-6-jointed ; joints and pedicels narrowly clavate, 

 h.ilf as long as the sessile spikelet, tips dilated and toothed, margins villously 

 ciliate with long hairs. Sessile spikelets j—^ in., callus obtuse shortly bearded ; gl. 

 I tip obtuse often irregularly toothed, dorsally 2-nerved or nerveless ; II lanceolate, 

 3-nerved, ciliate, III oblong, ciliate; IT small, narrow, 2-fid, lobes subulate 

 glabrous or ciliate ; awn slender, twice as long as the gl. or longer. Pedicelkd 

 spikelets oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse ; gl. I glabrous or pubernlous, keels hardly 

 ciliate ; II ovate, acute, 3-nerved ; III oblong, ciliate, 2-nerved. — As in the case 

 of ^. tardus, this grass has been so extensively cultivated in India that it is impossible 

 to say where it is wild, and its synonymy is so mixed up with that of ^. Nardm, 

 and the descriptions of both are so inexact, that until the whole subject of their culture 

 and distribution has been botanically investigated by a skilled observer in various 

 parts of India, their history must remain obscure. Botanically, A. Schcenanthiis is 

 remarkable for the extraordinary difference between its broad and narrow leaved 

 varieties. Some forms of the narrow leaved closely resemble states of A. 'Sairdus, 

 and can only be distinguished from it by the narrow cleft in the centre of gl. I of 

 the sessile spikelet and its corresponding rib in the ventral face of that glume. The 

 figure given by Veutenat (Hort. Cels. t. 89) is unreliable for any grass. I give 

 below Uackel's classification of the varieties with their synonymy, adding one which 

 he does not appear to have seen. I am quite unable to distinguish his vars. 

 genuinus and versicolor. — " Geranium grass, Busa oil grass. Oil of Ginger grass." 

 Watt. 



Subsp. genuinus, Hack. 1. c. 609 ; panicle linear-oblong, secondary branches 

 usually simple, spikes ^-f in., dorsal cleft of gl. I hardly reaching the middle of the 

 gl., gl. IV cleft i-i way down, awn perfect, ped[celled spikelets glabrous. Wall. 

 Cat. 8794 L. ' ^ f s 



Tar. Martini, leaf-base cordate and i-amplexicaul, spathes and spikelets 

 pale or spikelets reddish. A. Schcenanthus, Linn. I. c. ; Lisboa in Journ. Bomb. 

 Nat. Hist. 8oc. iv. (1889) 120. A. Martini, Boxb. Fl. Ind. i. 277 ; Aitchis. Cat. 

 Panjab. PI. 175; WigU. Gat. n. 1702. A. giganteus, Bochst. in Flora (1844) 

 242. A. nardoides o, Nees Fl. Afr. Austr. 116. A. pachnodes, Triu. in Mem. 

 Acad. Petersh. Ser. TI. ii. (1824) 284, Sp. Gram. Ic. t. 337. Gymnanthelia 

 Martini, ^nderss. in Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Mthiop. 310. 



