( 5 ) 



Banda: sivaen; Oddh: Jharai{ Ehira), oyia (Kheri); Cent. Prov. : Chi- 

 chohi (Balaghat), gdwa (Nagpur) ; Chutia Nagpur: Sama-ghds; Berar: 

 Saweli ; Bengal: Shama (Roxb.) ; Teling : Woodoo gaddi (Roxb.). 



Annual. Stems erect, 2 feet or more in height, or decumbent and 

 rooting from the lower nodes. Leaves glabrous, flat, linear, acuminate. 

 Panicle composed of several secund erect distant spikes. Spikelets ses- 

 sile, in four rows on one side of the spikes. Rachis with sometimes a few 

 empty scales (abortive spikelets ?) at the base of the spike. Glumes 

 generally with rough hairs on the nerves, often pointed, but not awned ; 

 the lower outer glume nearly half as long as the second and third, 

 which are about equal. Flowering glume and pale coriaceous and white. 



Generally considered to be one of the best kinds of fodder grass. It 

 is abundant all over the plains, and ascends to some few thousand feet __-^ 

 on the Himalaya. It prefers a rich soil, and is often commonly met with 

 as a weed on cultivated ground. It is greedily eaten by all kinds of 

 cattle both before and after it has flowered, the abundant crop of grain 

 yielded by it adding materially to its nutritive value. The grain, which 

 is a saleable article in the bazars, is made into "khir" by the Hindus, 

 to be used on their fast days. Dr. Aitchison states that it is cultivated in 

 the Jhelum District, It extends to Australia, where, it is reported, its 

 very succulent stems grow from 2-8 feet in height. 



P. Crus-Galli, Linn. {Plate V.)* Syn. — P. Crus-corvi, Linn.; 

 Oplismenus Crus-Galli ', Kunth ; Echinochloa Crus-Galli, Beauv ; Ortho- 

 pogon Crus-Galli, Spreng. Vern. — General: Sdhwah; Punjab : Bara 

 sdhwah (Multan), jarotha (Sabathu Hills), Iharti (Hissar) ; Rajput- 

 ana : Sama, horma (Mount Abu) ; Doab : Dhand (Royle) ; Cent. 

 Prov. : Bari hhodore (Seoni), bharta and datia (Balagh&t), hunda 

 buttam gadi (Chanda) ; Bengal: Bura shama and. dul (Roxb.); Tel- 

 ing : Pedda woondoo (Roxb.). 



Rather a coarse decumbent annual with stems ascending 2-3 feet. 

 Leaves broad and flat, without any ligule. Panicle irregularly pyra- 

 midal, usually dense, and composed of short spikes diminishing in size 

 upwards and directed to one side. Spikelets more or less hispid hairy ; 

 rachis ciliate or bristly. Outer glume very short and broad, second and 

 third nearly equal, the second shortly awned, and the third with long awns 

 sometimes an inch in length. Fruiting glume smooth and polished. 

 A very variable species as to the length of the awns, the shorter awned 

 forms approaching P. colonum, which Cosson and Durieu, in their work 

 on the flora of Algeria, describe as a variety of this species. 



• See also Plate A., Fig. 1, in present Volume. 



