491 
Microcalamus .'] clvii. gr amines (Stapf). 
far these are dependent on external ^conditions is at present a matter of con- 
jecture ; but on the whole they seem distinctive enough to suggest the presence 
of genetically different types. 
Leaves more or less hairy, at least when young, always 
pubescent at the sheath-nodes and with a dorsal ciliatc 
•transverse rim at the junction of sheath and blade. 
Perfect leaves usually more than 2, and up to 8 with each 
flowering culm ; their blades broad-lanceolate, 
2-4 in. by §-l in., rather firm and somewhat rigid ; 
nerves very close, mostly 60-70 per inch ... ... 1. M. barbmodis. 
Perfect leaves 1-3 with each flowering culm, the blades 
with 35-50 nerves per inch. 
Leaf-blades glabrous above, pubescent underneath, at 
. least when young or towards the base, variously 
shaped ; spikelets oblong in outline ; lower floret 
obliquely and narrowly lanceolate in profile, its 
valve rather firm ... ... ... ... ... 2. M. Aspidistrula. 
Lenf -blades with scattered fine glistening hairs spring- 
ing from small tubercles on the upper surface, quite 
glabrous underneath, lanceolate, long-acuminate, 
6-8 in. by 1|— 14 in., thin, finely nerved ; spikelets 
broad-oblong in outline ; lower floret obliquely [oides. 
oblong in profile, its valve thinly chartaceous ... 3. M. convcdlctri- 
Leaves including the sheath-nodes quite glabrous ; blades 
obliquely and broadly lanceolate, 7-9 in. by 2-5 in., 
their base usually very oblique and shortly attenuated, 
almost petioloid at the junction with the sheath, lateral 
nerves 30-50 per inch ... ... ... ... ... 4. M. glaber. 
1. M. barbinodis, Franxdi. in Journ. de Bot. iii. 282, with fig. 
I! accrues slender, sheathed at the base by about 4 cataphylls, the 
lowest firm, very short, rounded, very strongly nerved, the following 
similar, but up to 3J lin. long, the third and fourth thinner and much 
elongated (the latter up to 1J in. long), all more or less appressedly 
hairy, at length glabrescent, the internode above the uppermost 
cataphyll often much elongated and up to 1 ft. long, prostrate or 
inclined, ending in a motile knee and sometimes rooting from it, 
followed above it by a succession of short sheathed internodes 
forming an erect leafy and flowering culm, which rarely rises over 
\ ft. above the knee ; innovation-buds extra vaginal from the knee, 
growing out into runners or directly into secondary leafy culms. 
Leafy or flowering culms few- to 8-noded, with all their leaves normal 
foliage-leaves or (on secondary culms) the lowest 2 or 3 of them 
developed as cataphylls, usually all the internodes except the upper- 
most enclosed in the sheaths. Leaf-sheaths very tight, firm, terete, 
strongly striate, appressedly hairy between the nerves and with a 
dense transverse dorsal line of hairs at the junction with the blade ; 
ligules obscure ; blades broad-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, 2-4 in. 
by f-1 in., rather firm and somewhat rigid, shortly contracted at the 
base, glabrous above, finely and appressedly pubescent below towards 
