Arthraxon.\ 
CLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
163 
Leaf-blades lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, cordate and amplexicaul 
at the base. Racemes or spikes slender to very slender. 
Species about 20, in the tropical and subtropical zones of the Old World. 
Perennial ; culms from a short rhizome, innovation- 
buds ovoid, covered with silky cataphylls ; spike - 
lets 2|-3J lin. long 1. A. serrulatus * 
Annual. 
Racemes conspicuously hairy, more or less villous. 
Culms erect or ascending, simple or sparingly 
branched, 1-1 \ ft. high ; spike lets always 
paired, the sessile 2|-3A lin. long, the pedi- 
celled reduced to a glume 1-1| lin. long ... 2. A. cusjpidatus. 
Culms ascending from a more or less prostrate 
much-branched base, 2-8 in. high, very slen- 
der ; spikelets solitary or the upper paired, 
the sessile 1-1^ lin. long, the pedicelled barren, 
more or less reduced ... ... ... ... 3. A. lancifolius. 
Racemes not conspicuously hairy, with the joints 
shortly ciliate or glabrous ; spikelets always 
solitary ; pedicels reduced to a minute point or 
subule ... 4c. A. quartinianus. 
1. A. serrulatus, Hochst. in Flora , 1856, 188 A Perennial ; rhizome 
short, emitting fascicles of closely set culms and innovation-shoots, 
which are more or less thickened below and covered with reddish 
silky cataphylls. Culms rather slender, up to 2 ft. high, many-noded, 
usually finely pubescent, sometimes glabrous, with vegetative 
branches below and usually solitary flowering branches above, the 
latter subfastigiate. Leaf-sheaths terete, tight, slightly shorter than 
the internodes or exceeding them in the leafy shoots, more or less 
hairy with tubercle-based hairs and often softly pubescent at the 
nodes, the uppermost frequently glabrous ; blades lanceolate to 
ovate-lanceolate, setaceously acuminate, with a caudate amplexicaul 
base, glaucous or greenish, 1-2 in. long and J-f in. wide, margins 
cartilaginous, ciliate with the cilia springing from tubercles, smooth, 
very finely pubescent below or glabrous, primary lateral nerves about 
8-11 on each side, fine, slightly raised below. Racemes 2-5, slender, 
greenish or suffused with purple, 1J to over 2 in. long, on a short 
common axis, the fascicles borne on a slender peduncle, shortly or 
far exserted from the supporting bladeless or almost bladeless 
sheath. Rhachis fragile, shortly bearded at the nodes ; joints 
narrowly linear, 1J-3 lin. long, hairy oh the back and the sides, or 
the lowest almost glabrous, hairs increasing upwards to more than 
1 lin. ; pedicels very similar, but much shorter and more slender. 
Sessile spikelet narrowly lanceolate-linear to linear, slightly taper- 
ing upwards, including the short puberulous callus 2J-3| lin. long, 
J-f lin. wide, glabrous. Glumes subequal ; lower chartaceous, with 
a minutely truncate hyaline tip, very convex on the back, which is 
smooth or more often minutely muricate along the 4 indistinct or 
