622 
CXIII. GRAMINE.E 
Styles 2, distinct, feathery. Grain oblong, free within the per- 
sistent glumes. 
Charaog, near Simla. — Plains of N. India, ascending to 6000 ft. — W. Asia, 
N. Africa, Europe. 
40. PHRAGMITES. From the Greek phragma, a fence, hedge, 
referring to a common use made of the stems. — Temperate and 
tropical regions. 
*Phragmites communis, Trin . ; FI. Br. Ind. vii. 303. Perennial; 
rootstock thick, creeping ; stems erect, 6-10 ft., leafy throughout. 
Leaves in 2 series, smooth, flat, lanceolate, 18-24 x ^-1^ in., 
tapering into a long, fine point, base rounded, not stem-clasping. 
Ligule very short, hairy. Spikelets purple-brown, narrow, slightly 
flattened, in., 3-7-flowered, crowded on the more or less 
drooping branches of a dense, erect, shining, silky panicle 6-18 in. 
long, hairy at the base ; branches in half-whorls ; lowest flower of the 
spikelets male, naked, the others 2 -sexual or the uppermost male 
or rudimentary, enveloped in the long, silky hairs clothing the 
rhachilla. Rhachilla prolonged. Glumes glabrous, thin, keeled. 
Empty glumes 2, lanceolate, much shorter than the spikelet, very 
unequal, the lower the shorter. Flowering glumes J-J in., oblong- 
lanceolate, the fertile ones narrowed into an awn-like point. 
Stamens 3, except in the lowest flower which sometimes has 2 
or only 1. Styles 2, distinct, feathery. Grain oblong, free within 
the persistent glumes. 
In lakes and marshes throughout N.W. India, ascending to 10,000 ft. — - 
N. and S. temperate regions, including Britain (Common Reed), the Arundo 
Phragmites of Bentham’s British Flora. 
The silky hairs clothing the rhachilla lengthen as the grain ripens, giving 
a beautiful silvery appearance to the panicle. 
41. NEYRAUDIA. In honour of M. Reynaud, a French 
botanist. — Tropical and temperate regions of Asia and Africa. 
*Neyraudia madagascariensis, Hook. f . ; FI. Br. Ind. vii. 305. 
Perennial ; stems 6-10 ft., solid, leafy. Leaves flat, 1-2 ft., up to 
1 in. broad, base stem-clasping. Ligule very short, hairy. Spikelets 
purple-brown, narrow, slightly flattened, J-J in., 4-8-flowered 
(flowers all fertile except sometimes the uppermost), in a shining, 
silky, erect panicle 1-3 ft. long ; branches in half w r horls, more or 
less spreading. Rhachilla prolonged. Glumes thin, lanceolate. 
Empty glumes 2, glabrous, acute, much shorter than the lowest 
flowering glume, very unequal, the lower the shorter. Flowering 
glumes narrow, base hairy, margins fringed with long, white, silky 
hairs, tip divided in 2 bristle-like lobes, a short, straight, rough 
awn in the cleft. Stamens 3. Styles 2, distinct, feathery. Grains 
oblong, free within the persistent glumes. 
Plains of N. India, ascending to 5000 ft. — Tropical Asia and Africa, Mada- 
gascar. 
