Panicum .] 
GRAMINEiE. 
489 
fig. 1, not Linn. P. bromoides, Lam. III. 170. Oplismenus bromoides, 
Bojer, Hort. Maur. 366. 
Mauritius, in cultivated ground. Round the world in the tropics. 
19. P. compositum, Linn. Sp. Plant . 84. Perennial, tufted, 
nearly glabrous. Stems slender, trailing and rooting at the base, then 
erect for a foot or more, many-leaved ; upper sheaths 2-3 in. long, 
glabrous or finely pilose, especially at the edge in the upper part ; 
blade lanceolate, acute, glabrous, 2-4 in. long, |-f in. broad. Panicle 
6-9 in. long, composed of 6-8 ascending spikes 2-3 in. long, with a 
finely pilose rachis ; spikelets laxly disposed, oblong, acute, greenish, 
nearly glabrous, i in. long. Awn of the outer empty glume i-i in. 
long. Trin. Ic. t. 187-189. Oplismenus compositus, Room. and Schult. ; 
Kunth, Enum.i.\4i\. Panicum sylvaticum, Lam. Fncgcl.iv. 473. Oplis- 
menus sylvaticus, R. and S. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 139. Andropogon un- 
datus, Jacq. Ic. t. 631. Oplismenus Jacquini, Kunth , Fnum. i. 140. 
O. lanceolatus, Kunth , Knum. i. 146. Panicum undatum, Steud. Gram . 
45. 
Mauritius and Seychelles, in woods, not common. Also Madagascar, Comoros, 
and Tropical Asia. 
20. P. Benthami, Steud. Gram. 43. Annual, tufted, subglabrous. 
Stems erect, 3-4 feet high, glabrous, or with a few spreading hairs. 
Leaves 5-6 ; sheath very scabrous, upper 3—6 in. long ; blade lanceo- 
late, membranous, acute, 3-6 in. long, in. broad, rounded at the 
base, glabrous on the face, cilia'ted on the edge. Panicle half a foot 
long, on a long naked peduncle, composed of a dozen or more ascend- 
ing branches half a foot long with a very slender glabrous rachis ; 
spikelets shortly pedicellate, oblong, acute, glabrous, J in. long. Outer 
empty glume with an awn as long as or longer than itself. Urochloa 
paniculata, Benth. in Kook. FI. Nigr. 558. 
Mauritius, in cultivated fields, Bouton ! Also Zambesi-land and Guinea. 
I have not identified P. rarisetum , Steud. Gram. 52, said to be a plant of Mauritius 
(Sieber, Herb. Mixt. 144) and Bourbon, and to have a creeping stoloniferous root- 
stock, a glabrous stem a foot high geniculate at the base, sheaths pilose at the edge 
and throat, linear leaves 2-4 in. long, in. broad, with a few long scattered hairs, 
panicle contracted, racemes distichous at the base and confluent above, and spikelets 
subtended as in P. costatum , with a single scabrous flexuose bristle. 
4. STENOTAPHRUM, Trin. 
Spikelets 2-flowered, the upper flower hermaphrodite, the lower 
male or neuter, arranged in one or few- flowered crowded spikes pressed 
against the hollows of a thick common rachis. Empty glumes 2, mem- 
branous, the outer one small. Flowering glume and pale large, oblong, 
acute. Stamens 3. Styles 2, long ; .stigmas protruded from the top 
of the flower. Hypogynous scales truncate. Grain plano-convex, 
