Ophiurus.] 
CLVII. GRAMINE^E (Stapf). 
75 
the joints, both forming together a deeply hollowed-out cylindric recep- 
tacle for the reception of the sessile spikelet ; disarticulation of the 
internodes at a right angle or slightly oblique to the rhachis, their 
tips hollowed out. Sessile spikelet with a very narrow callus 
which is fused with the base of the internode into a rim from the 
centre of which protrudes a small knob fitting into the hollow of the 
next lower internode, thp whole plexus falling together. Florets 2, 
lower £ or neuter, upper $ , awnless. Glumes equal ; lower cori- 
aceous, flat or subconvex on the back with very narrow indexed 
margins, faintly nerved, with a transverse groove at the base, upper 
boat-shaped, hyaline, obtuse. Valves hyaline, 2-nerved or nerve- 
less. Valvules similar to the valves. Lodicules 2, cuneate. 
Stamens 3. Stigmas short, laterally exserted. Grain oblong, 
dorsally slightly compressed ; embryo a quarter the length of the 
grain. — Annual (?) or perennial, sometimes very coarse grasses, 
usually much-branched upwards ; blades linear to lanceolate, short 
to very long, conduplicate or convolute in bud, then flat ; ligules 
very short, membranous ; racemes dorsiventral. 
Species about 4, ranging from the Sudan through tropical Asia to Australia. 
1. 0. papillosus, Hochst. in Flora, 1844, 248. Annual. Culms 
rather stout, 1J-4J ft. high, much-branched, the branches forming 
ultimately a large and more or less leafy panicle, glabrous or sparingly 
hirsute. Leaf-sheaths wide, striate, glabrous or hirsute with 
tubercle-based hairs ; ligules short, thinly membranous, glabrous ; 
blades lanceolate, from a broad subcordate base, 3-10 in. long, 4 to 10 
lin. wide, soft, more or less hirsute with tubercle-based hairs, particu- 
larly on the cartilaginous, often minutely wavy margin, rarely 
almost glabrous below, lateral nerves 4-5 on each side, like the 
midrib slightly raised. Panicle up to more than 2 ft. long, with 
distant fascicles of branches ; branches unequal, the longest some- 
times divided again, the others or all reduced to 2 internodes, with a 
narrow spathaceous leaf from the node, with or without a short 
blade, the internodes very short or elongated (up to 1J in.). Spikes 
cylindric, slender, erect, straight or nearly so, 2 to over 3 lin. long, 
J-f lin. in diam., whitish, variegated with green, glabrous ; joints 
completely fused with the pedicels, cylindric, 1J-1J lin. long, green, 
multistriate, deeply hollowed out behind the spikelet, disarticu- 
lating horizontally with a circular scar and a hollow tip. Sessile 
spikelet elliptic-oblong, from an indistinct glabrous callus, very 
obtuse, somewhat shorter than the joint, pale straw-coloured. 
Glumes equal ; lower coriaceous, with narrow subinflexed margins, 
indistinctly keeled upwards, faintly 9-nerved, back of the glume 
slightly convex, quite smooth, or minutely pitted above the callus 
and sometimes also in parallel rows in the upper part ; upper glume 
boat-shaped, membranous, obtuse, 3-nerved, glabrous. Lower floret 
barren : valve ovate-oblong, obtuse, 1 lin. long, hyaline, finely 
