178 
clvii. gramine^ (Stapf). [Dichanthium . 
upper g ), 1 in the barren sessile and all the pedicelled spikelets, $ 
or neuter, or suppressed. Sessile spikelet dorsally compressed, 
awned (except the basal homogamous ones) ; callus small, shortly 
bearded. Glumes equal, thinly chartaceous ; lower usually very 
obtuse, 2-keeled with narrow sharply indexed margins ; upper boat- 
shaped, 3-nerved, acutely keeled. Valve of lower floret hyaline, 
nerveless, of upper floret reduced to a hyaline upwards firmer linear 
stipe, passing into a slender awn (very rarely finely 2-toothed with 
the awn from the sinus in a doubtful or aberrant Indian species). 
Valvule 0 or minute. Lodicules 2, minute, glabrous. Stamens 3. 
Stigmas exserted laterally at or above the middle or near the tips. 
Grain oblong, obtuse, dorsally compressed ; embryo rather more 
than half the length of the grain. Pedicelled spikelet awnless ; 
valve if present hyaline, nerveless. — Perennial, very rarely annual, 
grasses with simple or branched usually many-noded culms, bearded 
or beardless at the nodes. Panicles usually subdigitate with a short or 
very short primary axis, rarely the latter elongated ; racemes always 
shortly peduncled. Spikelets small, rarely the male somewhat larger. 
Species 8, in the tropical and warm-temperate regions of the Old World. 
Lower glume of sessile $ spikelets without a semi- 
lunar row of long tubercle-based cilia below the 
hyaline tip ; blade margins not re volute 1. D. annulatum. 
Lower glume of sessile $ spikelets with a semilunar 
row of long tubercle-based cilia below the hyaline 
tip ; blade margins^atkn^th revolute 2. D. 'papillosum. 
1. D. annulatum^ Stapf. Perennial, densely csespitose, innova- 
tions extra- and intra- vaginal. Culms up to over 3 ft. high, sub- 
erect or geniculat e-as cending , usually slender, terete, grooved on 
alternate sides of internodes, simple or very frequently branched, 
smooth. Leaf-sheaths terete, tight, striate, glabrous, mostly bearded 
at the nodes ; ligules firmly s carious, oblong, obtuse, up to over 1 lin. 
long ; blades linear, tapering to a fine point, slightly contracted at 
the base, up to 1 ft. (usually much less) by 1J-2 (rarely 3) lin., 
glaucous, more or less rigidly glabrous or sparingly hairy often 
from tubercles, smooth below, more or less rough above, margins 
cartilaginous and scaberulous upwards, midrib whitish above ; 
lateral nerves 3-4 on each side, firm. Inflorescence subdigitate, 
erect ; common rhachis x filiform, 3-8 (rarely 12) lin. long, shortly 
bearded at the branch axils ; branches solitary, usually simple, 
naked up to 3 (rarely 4) lin., quite glabrous. Racemes 3-9, rarely 
only 1 or more than 12 (up to over 20), slender, somewhat flaccid, up 
to over 2 in. long, pale or flushed with purple ; joints and pedicels 
finely filiform, solid, § to almost 1 lin. long, ciliate (sometimes on one 
side only) or the lowest almost glabrous, uppermost cilia often as 
long as the joint. Sessile spikelets subimbricate, oblong, obtuse, 
1J-2 lin. long, usually that of the lowest pair $ or neuter and 
awnless ; callus very small, shortly bearded. Lower glume thinly 
