Graminece.] 



CHINA. 



239 



habeo. CI. R. Brown, Saccharum paniccum, Lam. citans, valvulam flosculi hermaphroditi superiorem de- 

 ficicrttem notat. An itaque plures hie species, neseio an plura fors genera, latent ? 



[In Prof. Nees V. Esenbeck's MS. to Dr. Lindley, and more lately in a letter to ourselves, we find that he now 

 inclines to consider the species from Dr. Wight, also from Ceylon and China, as a distinct one, and he thus 

 characterises it : — " P. refractum ; gluma inferiori breviori truncata, superiori apicem versus hirta, seta flosculi 

 fertilis basi refracta. — Differt e P. polystachyo (scil. plantse, cui nomen hoc reliquimus) spiculis duplo fere 

 minoribus, vix lineam longis, cum isti 1^ lineam sint longre, opacis; gluma inferiori breviori et ratione longi- 

 tudinis latiori, fere recta truncata ; superiori apicem versus hirsuta, seta flosculi ab origine fere arcu parvo 

 refracta qua? isti leniter retrovergens subtortuosaque. Reliqua utrisque conveniunt. Flosculus inferior uni- 

 valvis, superior bivalvis, valvis ciliatis. Folia angusta valdc scabra, magis tamen in P. refracto, ad os vaginae 

 longe barbata. — P. polystachi diagnosis haec est : P. glumis aequalibus tavibus apice barbatis, seta recurva 

 flexuosa." — The direction of the seta, however, is perhaps inconstant : it is erect in Roxburgh's figure (in E. I. 

 C. mus. tab. 875.) of his Andropogon monandrus, and in some of Dr. Wight's younger specimens; but Rox- 

 burgh's plant is certainly P. refractum, for although in his description he states the glumes to be equal, he 

 represents them unequal, and the lower one of the sessile spikelet truncated in his drawing, and besides, the 

 lower floret appears to have been so minute as to have escaped his notice. In the specimen of P. poly- 

 stachyum, N. ab E., which we possess, we are uncertain from what part of India, the lower floret of the 

 sessile spikelet is conspicuously 2-valved, as in Beauvois' figure, and contains a single apparently imperfect 

 stamen, which falls out as soon as the florets expand, and is therefore only to be observed in an early 

 stage : the bisexual floret contains two fertile stamens. The pedicelled spikelet has the lower floret, so far 

 as we have observed, always neuter, and with one conspicuous valvelet, and the upper one with or without 

 one unfertile stamen. When Mr. Brown speaks of Saccharum paniccum, Lam., not having an upper valve- 

 let to the upper floret, he probably merely alluded to Lamarck's figure, where it is erroneously represented so.] 



7. HoMOEATHERUM. N. ab E. 



Spicule in axi articulata geniinae heterogamy; altera scssilis hemigama, altera pedicellata neutra. Hemi- 

 gam/e: gluma duae, membranaceo-chartacea;; inferior angustior minorque canaliculata, 2-4-nervis; nervis 

 lateralibus in dentes setasque excurrentibus; superior cymbiformis compressa ad apicem bifidum e nervo 

 medio longe setigera. Flosculi duo membranacei tenues : inferior univalvis, valvula lanceolata ciliata 

 mutica aut in setulam subtilem extenuata: superior bivalvis; valvula inferior lanceolato-cymbiformis inter 

 lacinias apicis latiusculas ciliatas setam emittens validam, inferius tortam in medio reflexam; valvula superior 

 minor, linearis, binervis, bidentata, dorso concava lateribus inflexis. Lodiculce subcarnosae, colorata? (flavae), 

 truncato-bidentatse. Stamen (in unica specie) unum. (Antherca fulvae.) Styli discreti; stigmata aspergil- 

 liformia, Nectri : glumcc duae; inferior subherbacea, plana, multinervis, ex apice bidentato bisetove longius 

 setigera; superior angustior, submembranacea, margine intlexa, ex apice ciliato brevi-dentato setam parvam 

 emittens. Flosculi inferioris neutriusque valvula plus minus evoluta. Flosc. superior omnino deest. — In- 

 rlorescentia : spicae geminatm, in pedunadis vagina microphylla involutis subfasciculatce, Racheos articuli 

 cuneiforrnes, apice oblique truncati et excavati, oblique trigoni, latere exteriore latiori convexo. Pedicelli 

 spiculae imperfecta articulis racheos similes, hinc convexi, inde concavi. Habitus omnino Andropogonis t 

 sectione Cymbopogonum. 



Est genus intermedium inter Pogonatheram P. de B. et Andropogones, illis tamen revera magis propin- 

 quum. Differt a Pogonathero genere spiculis singuli paris non modo hcterogamis, sed etiam forma diversis, 

 gluma utraque spiculae pedicellata; setigera, inferiori quoquc spiculaj sessilis saepo biseta; turn vero lodiculis 

 distinctis carnosisve. 



1. H. Chinense. N. ab E. in Herb. Lindl. 



Hab. In China circum Macao et in insulis adjacentibus a Julio in Septembrein 1829, legit G. H. 

 Vachell, n. 52. 



