4 



ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) 



143. Perotis latifolia, Aiton. Anthoxanthum indicum, 

 Lion. Saccharum spicatum, Linn. Agrostis spicaeformis, Linn. 

 This grass was collected in Ceylon by Paul Hermann in 1660 

 to 1667, and was described by Linneus in Fl. Zeylanica, No. 25, 

 and I examined bis specimen in the British Museum in 1857. 

 It is in p. 29 of volume I. (by an error marked 5). It is a com- 

 mon grass at Colombo in sandy soil, and is remarkable for its 

 long bottle-brush-like panicle of metallic coloured flowers. 

 Cattle scarcely touch it. Hermann gave the Sinhalese name 

 kawulu to it, whilst Moon, in his Cat. Ceylon Plants, gives 

 heen-pini-baru, and ela-balal-tana for it, but I never heard 

 it called by any of them. It is a native of Iudia, Japan, 

 TenerifYe, and the Cape of Good Hope. 



144. Zoysia pungens, WillcL Agrostis matrella, Linn^ 

 Matrella juncea, Pers. This is a very common seaside plant, 

 and grows in the sand along the coast, and with Remirea 

 pedunculata, Cyperus arenarius, and other plants helps much 

 to bind the sand along the coast. It is a tiny plant with 

 pungent leaves, and needle-like spikes of flowers, but it creeps 

 underground to a great extent. 



145. Sporobolus lndicgs, R. Br. Agrostis indica, Linn. 

 This is a common grass in the Kandyan country, whilst on the 

 coast the next one is very common. 



146. Sporobolus diander, Deauv. Agrostis diandra,Retz. 

 Rox. Fl. I ud. I, p. 317. This is a very common grass about 

 Colombo and elsewhere in the Western Province. Both 

 species are remarkable for their delicate feathery panicles. 

 Cattle do not seem to like either of them. 



147. Agrostis Royleana, Trin. Calamagrostis Hookeri- 

 ana, and C. Roylei, Steud. This is a delicate grass found by 

 me at Nuwara Eliya and at the Agras— a good deal like small 

 plants of iVrundinella nervosa. 



148. Polypogon monspeliensiSj Desf, P. zeylanieus, N. 



