GraminecB.] 



CHINA. 



235 



9. P. viride. Linn. — Smith in Engl. Bot. t. 875. Trin. Ic. Granir t. 203. — Pennisetum 

 viride. Brown. Prod. I. p. 195. — Setaria viridis. P. de Beauv. 



Hab. Ad Macao et in insulis vicinis ; G. H. Vachell, n. 37. a. 



In forma Chinensi, folia pilosa, vagina: autem glabrae, fiosculus haud laeviusculus sed granulatim unda- 

 liraquo exasperatus. 



[Of this the specific character is unfortunately wanting in Nces von Esenbeck's manuscript, and we have not 

 seen Mr. Vachell's specimen : if, however, a species which we have received from Millett, also from Canton, 

 be the same, it constitutes a form intermediate between the English P. viride and small states of P. Itali- 

 cum; the raceme is slightly lobed, and all the ramuli as well as the involucral bristles are very patent. If 

 we be correct in referring these specimens, P. viride can only be distinguished from P. Italicum thus : — 

 Racemo arcto simpliciter vel sublobato-spiciformi breviusculo, racemis partialibus subsessilibus paucifloris, 

 involucellis reetiusculis, foliis pilosis vel glabris. — All the remainder of the character of P. Italicum applies 

 to P. viride; in both, the fertile floret is more or less conspicuously but minutely and transversely rugulose.] 



d. Echinochloa. 



10. P. hispidulum; [spica composita crecta, partialibus subverticillatis subadpressis basi 

 et ad insertiones spicularum barbatis omnibus simplicibus, rachi 3-4-angulata striata, spi- 

 eulis quadrifariis ovatis turgidis hispidis pallidxs, gluma inferiori orbiculari-ovata mucronata 

 trinervi spicula triplo breviori basi amplectente cucullata, superiori ovata mucronato-acu- 

 minata 5-nervi, flosculi neutrius valvula inferiori longe setigera, caryopsi lsevi ovata gibba 

 subrostellata, culmo suberecto vaginis foliisque glabris, his supra margineque scabris, ligula 

 nulla. Lam. Enc. Meth. 4. p. 744. Retz, Obs. 5. p. 18. N. ab E. Agrost. Bras. p. 256. 

 — Digitaria hispidula. JVilld. En. Hort. Ber. \.p, 91. — Echinochloa hispidula. Schult. — 

 Orthopogon Retzii. Spr. Syst. I. p. 307. 



Hab. Circa Macao et in insulis vicinis ; Millett. Vachell, n. 43. 



We have drawn up the above character from Chinese specimens, among which we have two extreme 

 forms with every gradation between them ; one has the partial spikes short, close pressed to the rachis, and 

 the bristle of the neuter floret is seldom longer than the spikelet ; the other is much more luxuriant, having 

 more numerous and slightly spreading partial spikes, and the bristle, although short in some spikelets, is 

 usually 3-8 times longer than the florets : this last state approaches so closely to P. crus-Pavonis, N. ab E. 

 (A°rost. Bras. p. 259.) that we cannot detect any difference, except in the latter having the lower partial 

 spikes compound, and perhaps the lower glume not cucullate. Between P. hispidulum and P. caesium, not- 

 withstanding the differences pointed out by Nees von Esenbeck below, we find still greater difficulty of draw- 

 ing a line : in Prof. Henslow's specimens of the latter, determined by Nees von Esenbeck himself, the 

 rachis is certainly striated, the lower glume is cucullate, and the upper as distinctly 5-nervcd as that of P. his- 

 pidulum, while the glaucous hue, as well as the colour and size of the spikelets, is too dependant on soil and 

 situation to afford any but secondary characters ; we have thus left only the convex back of the rachis and 

 the decidedly alternate partial spikes to characterise it, and that these are constant and not the effect of 

 fortuitous circumstances we have reason to doubt.] 



11. P. casium; spica composita erecta, partialibus alternis subadpressis basi et ad inser- 

 tiones spicularum barbatis, rachi inferne semitereti compressa superne triquetra dorso 

 convexo, spiculis quadrifariis ellipticis hispidulis coloratis, glumis ovatis trinervibus, inferiori 

 spicula triplo breviore acuta, superiori acuminata, flosculi neutrius bivalvis valvula inferiori 



