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' 



ovate acute prominently 3-nerved glume ; flowering glume and pale of 

 hermaphrodite floret coriaceous, ovate oblong, acute, and wrinkled. 



Plains of North-West India, but not very common. It is strictly a 

 water grass, and is usually found with a considerable portion of its stems 

 under water. It produces an abundance of grain. 



P. frumentaceum, Roxb. Syn. — Op lismenus frumentaceus, Kunth; 

 Echinochloa frumentacea, Link. Vern. — General: Sdhwan and sdwan; 

 Punjab : Sama and sdhwah (Plains), sdmuha (Sutlej basin) ; N.-W. 

 Paov. and Oudh : Sama and samei (Bijnor), adwan-bhedeha (Bara 

 Banki), jhangora and jhungara (Him.) ; Bengal : Shama (Roxb.) ; 

 Teling : Bonta-shama (Roxb.). 



An annual, 2-4 feet high. Leaves large, often over-topping the pani- 

 cles, margins hispid. Panicle erect, composed of numerous secund 

 usually incurved spikes entirely surrounding the common rachis, and 

 frequently forming verticels. Spikelets in threes, the one sessile, the 

 other two on pedicels of unequal length. Outer glumes very unequal, 

 pubescent, cuspidate. 



Largely cultivated in Northern India as a rainy season crop, but 

 chiefly near and at low elevations on the hills. It is a rapid grower, 

 coming to maturity within six weeks after sowing. The grain is not 

 considered of a high class, and is mostly consumed by the poorer people. 

 The stalks are given as fodder to cattle. It is figured in Part II. of 

 " Field and Garden Crops, N.-W. Provinces and Oudh," and in Prof. 

 Church's " Food Grains of India," Fig. 4. 



P. helopus, Trin. {Plate VII.) Syn.— -P. setigerum, Retz; P. hirsu- 

 tum, Koen. ; P. Koenigii, Spreng; UrocJiloa pubescens, Beau v. Vern. — > t 

 General: Kuri and huriya; Punjab: Chatta and Tcowain (Sabathu 

 Hills), thun (Kangra); N.-W. Prov. : Basaunta (Dehra Dun), chap- 

 raila and semai (Allahabad), motia (Mainpuri) ; Bundelkiiand : Gal- 

 phula, basaunta, and samwdn (Banda) ; Bengal: Jal-ganti (Roxb.); 

 Teling : Salla-woodoo (Roxb.). 



Stems usually tall, creeping and rooting at the base. Leaves rather 

 broad lanceolate, with wavy margins, and cordate at the base, hirsute or 

 glabrous ; sheaths loose and hairy. Panicle branches 3-7, sessile above 

 the upper leaf or on a long peduncle. Spikelets arranged irregularly in 

 two rows, or in clusters at the base of the branches, ovoid acute, glabrous 

 or hairy. Rachis usually clothed with bristles ; outer glumes short, 

 broad, 3-nerved, second and third about equal, the third enclosing a pale 

 but no stamens. Fruiting glume minutely rugose, obtuse, but with the 

 central nerve produced into a short awn-like point. 



