( 32 ) 



hills. Cattle and horses eat it when it is young. In some parts of the 

 Central Provinces the grain is used as food. Roxburgh remarks that it 

 is generally found growing amongst rice, and is so much like it, that 

 they are not, till in flower, to be distinguished. 



Vossia speciosa, JBenth. (Syn. — Isclimmum speciosum, Nees) is a Himalayan 

 species occasionally extending to the base of the hills. It is a tall rather handsome 

 grass f— u^v c^w**.*^v. u 



- 



37. HETEROPOGON, Pers. There are 5 or 6 species inhabit- 

 ing warm countries, one of which, the well-known Spear grass, is common 

 all over India. The spikes are always solitary, and the pairs of spikelets 

 are closely packed so as to overlap each other. The spikelets are 1- 

 flowered. The sessile spikelet of each pair is fertile and awned, and J 

 the stalked ones are male and without awns. The long twisted and 

 bent awn of the fertile spikelet tapers at the base into a sharp point 

 (the point of the spear). 



H. contortus, R. $ S. (Plate XIX.) Syn.—H. hirtus, Pers. ; H. 

 Roylei, Nees ; Andropogon contortus, Linn. Vern. — Trans-Indus : Bar- 

 weza and sarmal (Stewart); Punjab : Sardri, svrdri, saridla and surwdla, 

 lamb (Kangra and parts of Gujranwala), suridla (Salt Range), sardla 

 (E. Punjab), sarwdla (Hissar); Rajputana : hnrwdl (Mount Abu); N.- 

 W. Prov. and Oddh : Kunura (Kumaon), sarwdla (Dehra Dun), surwdr 

 (Aligarh), sarwdr (Muttra), lap (Agra), pareba (Etawah), paraura 

 (Cawnpore), parba and musel (Allahabad), riskawa (Kheri), surwdra 

 (Bhira) ; Bundelkhand: Bandapuncha (Banda), also lamp, lampa, lam- 

 par, parba and parbi; Cent. Prov.: Huhara gadi and kusal (Chanda), 

 kusdli and hhar (Nagpur), kusal (Balagh at); Berar : Pochati and saga ; 

 Bengal: Kher (Rev. A. Campbell); Santali : Sauri ghds (Rev. A. 

 Campbell); Teling : Yeddi (Roxb.). 



Stems ascending or erect, 1^2Jeet high. Leaves narrow, upper sur- 

 face with a few long scattered hairs ; sheaths flattened, thin, mouths 

 bearded. Spikes stalked, 1-2 inches long not including the awns. Male 

 spikelets closely imbricate, in two rows along one side of the spike, 

 awnless. Female spikelets mostly confined to the upper part of the 

 spike, narrow, surrounded by silky brown hairs, and awned. 



Abundant in the plains, and up to 7,000 feet on the Himalaya. 

 Largely used as fodder both before and after it has flowered, but chiefly 

 when it is young and tender. In Rajputana and Bundelkhand, where 

 this grass abounds, it is cut and stacked after the rains are over. It is 

 also cut for hay in the Hissar bir, and Mr. Coldstream states that it will 

 keep good in stack for 12 years. On Mount Abu the people consider 



