'. ... 



' 





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. 



I. australis, R. Br. Syn. — Panicvm antipodum, Spreng.; P. atro- 

 virens, Trin. Vem. — Rajpdtana : Mez (Mount Abu). 



Stems 1 foot or more, slender, decumbent, rooting at the lower nodes. 

 Leaves lanceolate, rough. Panicle loose, spreading, ovoid ; branches 

 numerous filiform. Spikelets stalked. Outer glumes glabrous. Lower 

 floret usually male, and with a glabrous glume ; upper one female, shortly 

 stalked, and with its glume minutely pubescent. Rachis with a swollen 

 joint under the upper glume. 



Plains of Northern India and up to 5,000 feet on the Himalaya, usu- 

 ally in wet places. Symonds (" Indian Grasses," p. 33) says that I 

 horses and cattle are very-fond of it. 



I. albens, Trin. (Panicum helium, Steud.) is a taller species with larger and 

 looser panicles. It is found occasionally in the plains, and up to 6,000 feet on the 

 Himalaya. 



4. PANICUM, Linn. This is the largest genus of the grass family, 

 containing upwards of 280 species. It is represented in all tropical 

 parts of the globe, some few extending also into temperate regions. 

 As a genus it has no very distinctive characters in regard to habit and 

 inflorescence, and the safest single character by which it may generally 

 be recognized, viz., the inequality in size between the two lowest glumes, 

 fails in the case of a few species, whilst in others the lower of these two 

 outer glumes is altogether wanting, as in Paspalum. Of the Indian 

 species several are much valued as fodder grasses owing to their abund- 

 ant yield of grain, and the relatively large size of their grains. On this 

 account we find so many species of this genus in cultivation, e.g., P. 

 frumentaceum (sanwdk or sdnwan), P. miliaceum (chena) and P. miliar e 

 {kutki). Guinea grass, an introduced fodder grass of great value, also 

 belongs to this genus. 



Mr. Bentham divides the genus into eleven sections, of which the following are 

 more or less largely represented in Northern India : — 



Digitaria. Spikelets usually small, in alternate pairs or clusters along one side 

 of the simple spike-like branches of the panicle ; those of each pair or cluster un- 

 equally stalked, or one of them almost sessile. The lowest glume is often very 

 minute or deficient. Example. — P. sanguinale. 



Brachiaria. Panicle of spike-like simple branches on a simple common pe- 

 duncle. Examples. — P. flavidum, fluitans, and erucceforme. 



Echinochloa. Inflorescence somewhat similar to that of the preceding section, 

 but coarse plants with densely crowded spikelets on the partial spikes or branches of 

 the panicle, the second and third empty glumes very generally terminating in long 

 awns. Examples. — P. colonum, and Crus-galli. 



Hymenachne. Spikelets small, numerous, crowded in a long cylindrical spike- 

 iike panicle. In the typical species, P. Myurus, the spikelets are rather acuminate, 

 and the fruiting glume scarcely hardens. 



