584 
CXIII. GRAMINEiE 
4. OPLISMENUS. From the Greek ojplismenos , armed, refer- 
ring to the awns of the empty glumes. — Tropical and subtropical 
regions. 
Annual, hairy ; stems leafy, usually slender, weak and ascend- 
ing, often rooting at the lower joints. Leaves thin, flat, lanceolate, 
tapering to a fine point. Ligule a line of hairs. Spikelets narrowly 
ovoid, nearly sessile, jointed at the base, about } in. excluding the 
awns, 1 -flowered, solitary or in pairs or small clusters arranged in 
a single spike or on several short, spike-like branches distributed 
along the rhachis. Empty glumes 3, nearly equal, green, mem- 
branous ; the lowest fringed, long-awned ; second the shortest, 
with a shorter awn or sometimes acute ; uppermost longest, with a 
still shorter awn or acute, occasionally enclosing a narrow pale ; 
awns variable in length but in paired spikelets the awns of the 
upper spikelet are always longer than those of the lower one. 
Flowering glume 1, awnless, acute, white, of firmer texture than 
the empty glumes ; flower 2-sexual. Stamens 3. Styles 2, free to 
the base. Grain free within the hardened glume and pale. 
Spikelets in a single, unbranched spike . . . 1. 0. undulatifolius. 
Spikelets on several short branches distributed along 
the rhachis . . . . . . . . 2. 0. compositus. 
1. Oplismenus undulatifolius, Beauv. ; FI. Br. Ind. vii. 66. 
Stems 1-2 ft. Leaves 2-6 X|-|- in. Spikelets in pairs or clusters 
or occasionally solitary in a single, unbranched, often interrupted 
spike. (Fig. 4 87.) 
Simla, common. — Temperate Himalaya, 6000-9000 ft. — Most warm regions. 
2. Oplismenus compositus, Beauv. ; FI. Br. Ind. vii. 66. Stems 
1-3 ft. Leaves 2-6 X J-l in. Spikelets in pairs or clusters or 
occasionally solitary on few or many spike-like branches |-3 in. 
long distributed along the rhachis. 
Simla, common. — Throughout India, ascending to 8000 ft. — Most tropical 
regions except Australia. 
5. ARUND1NELLA. Diminutive of the Latin arundo, a reed. 
—Tropical and subtropical regions. 
Perennial, with a creeping, woody rootstock ; stems tufted, 
tall, erect, leafy. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, long-pointed, mar- 
gins often inrolled ; sheaths fringed with long hairs at the mouth 
and along the edges. Ligule none. Spikelets numerous, ovoid, 
J in. or less excluding the awn, 2-flowered, not jointed at the 
base, in pairs or small clusters, rarely solitary, on the branches 
of an erect panicle ; stalks unequal. Glumes membranous. 
Empty glumes 2, unequal, long-pointed, awnless ; lower smaller ; 
upper the longest in the spikelet. Flowering glumes 2, the lower 
nearly as long as the upper empty one, oblong, blunt, containing 
