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Linn.) Vern.— General : Bhurt ; Punjab: Basla and lapta (Stew- 

 art); Rajputana: Bharbhunt (Jeypur); bharont (Ajmere); Bundel- 

 khand : Kukar (Banda). 



Annual. Stems erect or ascending, often bent below. Leaves rougb, 

 lanceolate acuminate, ciliate or glabrous. -Involucres nearly sessile, 

 arranged loosely in a cylindrical spike and furnished with numerous 

 spines ; spines stiff and sharp, connate into a cup at the base, outer 

 row very short and spreading ; inner thicker, erect, overtopping the 

 flowers, sulcate on the back, downwardly hispid, often ciliate at the 

 base. Glumes ovate, acute, membranous. 



Plains of North- West India in sandy soil. It is much valued as a 

 forage grass, on account of the early appearance of its foliage. Mr. 

 Coldstream reporting from Hissar, says that it is much grazed when 

 tender, but is not suitable for stacking ; also that the seed mixed with 

 bajra flour is much used by the poorer classes. The following anecdote 

 is related in the Sirsa Settlement Report, p. 14 : — " The Bagris tell that 

 an emperor of Delhi was on his way with an army to attack Bikaner 

 when a bhurt stuck on his arm ; he picked it off and it stuck in his 

 finger ; he tried to bite it off and it stuck in his lip and gave him great 

 pain. When told the country was full of these things, he did not ven- 

 ture further, and Bikaner was saved from invasion." 



C. montanus, Nees. ( Plate XL VIII.) Syn. — (7. Schimperi, Steud. 

 and Hochst. ; C. tripsacoides, Fresen. Vern. — General: Anjan and 

 dhdman ; Punjab : Dhamman (Central and North). 



Annual. Stems several, ascending from a procumbent base. Leaves 

 linear, acuminate, clothed with spreading hairs, or nearly smooth. In- 

 volucres shortly stalked, enclosing 1-2 spikelets, globose, arranged in a 

 dense cylindrical spike ; outer spines of involucre subulate, short, ad- 

 pressed ; inner spines 8-10, hardly exceeding the spikelets, lanceolate, 

 pungent, connate into a cup one-third their length, erect, scabrid, some- 

 times with ciliate margins. Glumes nearly equal, membranous, ovate, 

 acute, and somewhat keeled. 



Common in sandy parts of the plains of N.-W. India. One of the 

 most nutritious of Indian grasses, and by some considered to be the 

 very best. It is a good grazing grass, and makes excellent hay. This 

 species varies much in the size of the spikes, the compactness of the 

 spikelets on the spikes, the length of the spines composing the invo- 

 lucre, also in the colour of the spikes, which are sometimes of a rich 

 reddish brown or almost black. 



8. PENNISETUM, Pers. This genus contains about 40 described 

 species, the greater number being African. Of those occurring in India 



