440 
GRAMINEiE. 
[. Stenotaphrum . 
free inside the indurated wrappers. — Trailing perennials, differing 
from the rest of the Banicece by the thickened excavated main rachis 
of the inflorescence. Distrib. Everywhere in the tropics. Species 2. 
Rachis jointed. Leaves obtuse 1. S. complanatum. 
Rachis unjointed. Leaves acute .... .... 2. S. subulatum. 
1. S. complanatum, SchranJc ; Kunth , Knum. i. J 37. Perennial, 
glabrous, with a wide-creeping rhizome, rooting and bearing tufts of 
leaves at the nodes, from which the flowering stems ascend to a height 
of a foot or more. Upper sheaths 3-4 in. long ; blade ligulate, obtuse. 
1- 4 in. long, in. broad. Panicle 3-4 in. long, with a flat jointed 
rachis } in. broad, deeply excavated against the spikes ; upper spikes 
2- 3-, lower 5-6-flowered ; spikelets oblong, glossy, acute, straw-coloured, 
£ in. long. Rottboellia complanata, Sw. ; Bojer , Hort. Maur. 372. Pani- 
cum dimidiatum, Linn. S. americanum, Kunth , Knum. i. 138. S. 
madagascariense, Kunth , Knum. i. 524. Panicum poseformis, Bojer , 
Hort. Maur. 365. 
Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Seychelles, everywhere common, ascending to the 
very summit of the Pouce. Tropics of both hemispheres. Gros Chiendent. 
2. S. subulatum^ Trin. ; Steud. Gram. 18. Habit of the last. 
Assurgent flowering stems with much shorter internodes and copiously- 
branched. . Upper sheaths 1-1\ in. long ; blade linear, acute, 1-3 in. 
long, -5— f in. broad, sometimes densely hairy. Rachis of inflorescence 
i-4 in. long, oblong in section, § in. thick; upper spikes 1-2-, lower 
3- 4-flowered, almost hidden in the hollows of the unjointed rachis ; 
spikelets in. long, glabrous, oblong-lanceolate, acute. Lepturus re- 
pens, Bojer , Hort. Maur. 372, not B. Br. 
Mauritius, in sandy soil on the seashore, Bojer ! Rodriguez, not uncommon on 
He Gombrain, Balfour ! Also Galega Island, Bojer ! and Philippines. 
5. CENCHRUS, Linn. 
Spikelets 2-flowered, the upper flower hermaphrodite, the lower male 
or neuter, several together enclosed in a fimbriated rigid involucre, 
which falls with them. Empty glumes membranous, oblong, acute ; 
flowering glume and pale oblong, acute, coriaceous. Stamens 3. 
Hypogynous scales 0. Styles 2, long ; stigmas plumose, protruded 
from the top of the flower. Grain compressed, free within its rigid 
wrappers. — Annuals, with the clusters of spikelets in dense spikes. 
Distrib. Tropics of both hemispheres. Species about 10. 
1. C. echinatus, Linn.; Kunth, Knum. i. 166. Annual, glabrous 
in all its parts, with tufted trailing stems a foot or more long. Leaves 
several ; upper sheaths 2-3 in. long; blade linear, acute, f l° n g- 
Spikes dense, 2-3 in. long, with, a flexuose rachi?. Involucres cam- 
panulate, stramineous, with about ten lanceolate divisions and many 
