Vil/a.] 
GRAMINE7B. 
449 
side of the flower. Grain free, large for the size of the spikelet, with 
a loose crustaceous pericarp. — Annuals or perennials, with narrow 
leaves and very numerous minute muticous spikelets. Disturb. 
Both hemispheres, mainly tropical. Species about 50. 
Empty glumes much shorter than the flowering 
glume. 
Panicle narrow, spike-like 1 . V. indica. 
Panicle lax, diffuse 2. Y. minutiflora. 
Empty glumes about as long as the flowering 
glume 3. Y. virginica. 
1. V. indica, Stend. Gram. 162. Perennial, densely tufted, erect, 
glabrous, 2-3 feet high. Stems firm, terete, with few nodes. Leaves 
narrow linear, convolute, often a foot long. Panicle \-l foot long, 
narrow and spike-like, with very numerous short laxly -placed branches 
adpressed to the rachis ; pedicels none or very short ; spikelets in. 
long, glossy, oblong, acute. Empty glumes unequal and much shorter 
than the flowering glume. Grain terete, oblong-cylindrical, more than 
half as long as the flowering glume. Agrostis indica, Linn. A tena- 
cissima, Jacg. Ic. t. 26. A. minutiflora, Steud. Gram. 170. Sporo- 
bolus indicus, tenacissimus, capensis, and elongatus, KuntJi , Enum. i. 
211-2. 
Mauritius, in dry soil at Plaines Wilhelms, and on the shoulder of the Pouce. 
Warmer regions of both the Old and New World. 
2. V. minutiflora, Trin. Agrost. i. 63. Stems densely tufted, 
erect, 1-2 feet high, glabrous, with 4-5 nodes. Leaves 3-9 in. long, J 
in. broad, acuminate, flat or convolute. Panicle very lax, often a foot or 
more long, 2-3 in. broad, with distant laxlv-panicled branches ; pedicels 
capillary, i in. long. Empty glumes oblong, obtuse, subequal, half 
as long as the spikelet. Elowering glume and pale oblong-lanceolate, 
in- long. Grain oblong, truncate, as long as the glume and pale 
and clasped by them. V. mangalorica, Hochst.j Steud. Gram. 159. 
Sporobolus minutiflorus, Link j Kunth , Enum. i. 214. 
Mauritius, in cultivated fields and shady places. Tropics of both hemi- 
spheres. 
3. V. virginica, Beauv. ; Trin. Ic. t. 48. Perennial, glabrous. 
Stems trailing, |-1 foot long, with short internodes, imbricated sheaths 
and 10-20 erecto-patent linear-convolute leaves 1J-2 inches long. 
Panicle l|-2 in. long, dense and narrow ; pedicels at most as long as the 
spikelets, which are pale green, glossy and about in. long. Empty 
glumes lanceolate-navicular, acute, nearly as long as the flowering 
glume and pale, which are like them in shape and texture. Grain 
oblong. Agrostis virginica, Linn. Sporobolus tremulus and virginicus, 
Kunth , Enum. i. 210. 
Mauritius and Rodriguez, in dry soil, especially sands of the shore. Warmer 
zones of both hemispheres. 
2 Q 
