Peltovhorus. 1 , clyii. gramine^e (Stapf). , 59/ 
1 e- H-uU: HUjur^W- v/ £ ; K - 3J 
14. PBLTOPHORUS, Desv. ex Beauv. Agrost. 119, t. 21, ' C 7'*~S 
fig. 11, and in Journ. Bot. 1813, 73. 
Spikelets 2-nate on the more or less fragile rhachis of spike-like 
ispathe-supported racemes which terminate the culms and their 
branches, different in sex and shape ; joints and pedicels fused into 
somewhat stout internodes, convex on the back, hollowed out on 
the inner face for the reception of the sessile spikelet ; disarticu- 
lation at a right angle to the rhachis, tips of internodes truncate 
with two concavities corresponding to the next upper sessile and 
the adjacent pedicelled spikelet. Sessile spikelet dorsally much 
compressed. Florets 2, lower $ or neuter and then with or without 
a valvule, upper g , awnless. Glumes equal or the upper shorter ; 
lower coriaceous, transversely rugose or muricate, conspicuously 
winged from the keels, upper membranous, immersed in the cavity 
formed by the joint and pedicel, usually 3-nerved, keeled (often 
obscurely). Valves hyaline, nerveless or 2-3-nerved. Valvule, if 
present, hyaline, nerveless or 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, cuneate. Stamens 
3. Stigmas linear, laterally exserted low down. Grain oblong ; 
embryo equalling the grain. Pedicelled spikelet $ or neuter. Lower 
glume coriaceous, smooth, asymmetrically or unilaterally winged, 
upper variously winged from the keel. Florets as in the sessile 
spikelet but $ or barren. — Annual or perennial short grasses with 
slender much-branched rarely simple culms ; blades linear, narrow, 
conduplicate in bud, then flat ; ligules short, membranous ; racemes 
much compressed, rather slender, straight or curved, very con- 
spicuously dorsiventral ; spikelets pseudo-opposite owing to the fusion 
of joints and pedicels, each pair made up of a sessile (secondary) 
spikelet and the pedicelled companion of the sessile spikelet of the 
next lower node. 
Species 5 ; 4 in the Indian Peninsula, 1 in Tropical Africa. 
1. P. sulcatus, Stapf Perennial. Culms rising from a creeping 
rhizome, which is covered like the extravaginal innovation buds by 
firm striate cataphylls ciliate upwards, over 3 ft. high, slender, 
simple except for one or two flowering branches from the uppermost 
nodes, smooth, glabrous, internodes very long-exserted. Leaf- 
sheaths all striate, tight, the lowest short and persistent, the follow- 
ing longer about 3 in. long, more or less hairy in the upper part ; 
ligules short, membranous, ciliate ; blades linear, long -tapering to 
a fine point, up to 1 ft. long and 2J lin. wide, rigid, erect, very hirsute 
to glabrous, midrib channelled above, rather slender, nerves promi- 
nent, margins scabrid. Racemes solitary from the culm and the 
branches, erect, cylindric, about 3 in. long, 1J lin. in diam., dull 
olive-green variegated with purple, glabrous, fragile ; joints and 
the slightly shorter pedicels united into a semicylindric internode 
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