re from 1/2 to 2 inches; _rachis_ is slender, flexuous,
flattened, scaberulous, with a few long hairs scattered singly along the
margins or without these hairs.

[Illustration: Fig. 98.--Panicum distachyum.

1 and 2. Front and back view of a portion of a spike; 3, 4, 5, and 6.
the first, second, third and the fourth glume, respectively; 5a and 6a.
palea of the third and the fourth glume, respectively; 7. anthers and
ovary.]

The _spikelets_ are glabrous, ovate-oblong, acute, 1/8 inch, 1- or
2-seriate, subsessile, pale green, occasionally purplish on one side.

There are four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is membranous, broadly ovate,
obtuse with margins overlapping at the base, hardly half the length of
the third glume, usually 5-nerved but occasionally 7-nerved. The
attachment of the first glume is not close to that of the second glume
but is far lower. The _second glume_ is ovate-acute, 7-nerved. The
_third glume_ is equal to the second, 5-nerved, paleate, empty; the
_palea_ is narrow, hyaline, acute. The _fourth glume_ is ellipsoidal,
obtuse, chartaceous, minutely and obscurely rugulose, faintly 3-nerved,
with the base somewhat thickened. _Palea_ is similar to the glume in
texture. _Anthers_ are orange-yellow. _Lodicules_ are minute and fleshy.
Style branches are purple.

This grass is fairly common in open and loamy and sandy soils. The form
(var. _brevifolium_, Wight & Arnott) is fairly common in Coimbatore
District.

_Distribution._--Plains of India and Ceylon. Not recorded from the
Bombay Presidency. It occurs in China, Malaya and Australia.

[Illustration: Fig. 99.--Panicum interruptum.]

=Panicum interruptum, _Willd._=

This is a large perennial grass with stems reaching 5 to 6 feet in
length, flourishing in marshes and in the edges of ponds and tanks.

The stems are long, stout and spongy below, ascending from a creeping
and rooting or floating root-stock; the lower internodes are often 1/2
inch or more in thickness, with nodes bearing in fascicles long stout
roots clothed with fine lateral roots; and the upper internodes are long
and slender.

The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous, striate. The _ligule_ is a short broad
membrane.

The _leaf-blade_ is soft, flat, many-nerved, linear, finely acuminate,
margins smooth, base rounded or subcordate, glabrous, 6 to 12 inches
long, 1/4 to 1/2 inch broad.

The _inflorescence_ is a strict spike-like panicle, 6 to 12 inches long
by 1/4 to 1/3 inch broad, cylind