Myriostachya.l 
CLXIII. GRAMINE^, 
245 
60. MYRIOSTACHYA, Hook. fil. 
A tall perennial grass with long linear leaves. Panicle dense, 
of very numerous short solitary or fascicled branches. Spikelets 
4- to 20-flowered, pale on scabrid pedicels jointed at the base. 
Glumes I and II short ovate-lanceolate, keeled and awned. Flower¬ 
ing glumes coriaceous ovate cuspidate keeled. Palea nearly as 
long. Species i. India, Ceylon and Malay Peninsula. 
(i) M. Wightiana Hook. fil. F.B.I. vii. 327. var. longispicula 
Ridl. Mat. iii. 180. Eragrostis Wightiana Benth. Ic. PL xiv. 62, 
i. 1381. 
Stems 6 to 10 ft. tall, rather stout. Leaves 2 ft. long, -25 in. 
wide, smooth. Panicle i ft. long, branches 1-25 in. long. Spikelets 
•25 to -5 in. long. Flowers 8 to 20; rachilla flexuous. Glumes I 
and II short with longer awns. Flowering glumes hardly awned. 
Palea boat-shaped. Hab. Rare and local in sea mud. Penang, 
Telok Bahang. Province Wellesley near Prai. Native name: 
Rumput Laut. 
61. ERAGROSTIS, Beauv. 
Annual or perennial glabrous grasses of no great size, with 
narrow leaves and a lax or dense panicle of many-fiowered spikelets 
laterally compressed, ovate, oblong or linear; rachilla produced 
articulate or not between the glumes. Glumes many distichous, 
thin, imawned; glumes I and II empty. The flowering glumes 
3-veined; callus o. Species about 100, whole world in warm regions. 
§ I. Catadastos. Rachilla of spikelets articulate, breaking up from above 
downwards. 
Small weak plants. 
Spikelets very small, -05 in. long; glume II twice as 
long as glume I . . . . . . (i) E. tenella 
Spikelets -i in. long, brown, viscid; glumes I and II 
nearly equal.(2) E. viscosa 
Tall stiff plant 2 to 3 ft. tall; glumes I and II ovate 
boat-shaped, sub-equal.(3) E. interrupta 
§ 2. Pteroessa. Rachilla persistent. Glumes falling from the base 
upwards. 
Annuals; spikelets ovate or oblong. 
Glumes with prominent nerves; palea caducous . (4) E. amabilis 
Glumes with inconspicuous nerves ; palea persistent (5) E. malayana 
Annual; spikes linear . . . . . . (6) E. pilosa 
Tall perennials. 
Flowering glumes pale green, sides flat . . • (7) E. elongata 
Flowering glumes dark grey, sides convex . . (8) E. elegantula 
(i) E. tenella Roem. and Schnlt. Syst. ii. 576; Stapf. in Hook, 
fil. FI. Brit. Ind. vii. 315; Ridl. Mat. iii. 179. E. plumosa Link, 
Enuni. Hort. Berol. i. 192, 
Perennial grass very variable, usually slender, many-culmed, 
6 to 12 in. tall. Leaves linear or lanceolate-linear, mouth of sheath 
ciliate. Panicle 2 to 3 in, long, spreading branches -25 to i in. long. 
