K 



THE GRASSES AND SEDGES OF THE 

 MALAY PENINSULA. 



BY 



H. N. RIDLEY, M.A., f.l.s. 



S§li§N publishing this list of the Grasses and Sedges of the 

 II Peninsula {Gramineas and Cyperacede), I am well 

 r ^2§§l aware that it is by no means complete. From many 

 SS>?S parts of the Peninsula we have no specimens of these 

 - r y\ families, and especially is this the case as regards 

 the great mountain region which traverses the 

 Peninsula. From the uplands we shall doubtless procure 

 many interesting kinds when the country is more opened up, 

 and from the northern parts of the Peninsula bordering on 

 Siam we may expect to obtain many Assam and Burmese 

 species not yet met with. This list rather represents the low- 

 land glumaceous flora of the South. 



A country which like this is covered with dense forest for 

 the greater part is, as a rule, poorly provided with grasses and 

 sedges, for few of these plants occur in high forest. Yet on the 

 whole there is a considerable variety, and among them not a 

 few very interesting and curious plants are to be met with. 



I am much indebted to Professor Hackel of St. Polten 

 for identifying many of the grasses, and to Mr. C. B. CLARKE 

 for much assistance in the matter of Cyperacese. 



Habitats. — The most productive localities for grasses and 

 sedges are the damp low swamps and rice-fields, the banks 

 of streams and the sandy shores of rivers and seas. The 

 open country where the jungle has been cleared and second- 

 ary forest is returning is very barren of plants of interest, 

 although large tracts are covered with glumaceous plants. 

 Imperata, Ischcemum, Paspalum, Panicum of the Digitaria 



