he
mid-nerve just at the cleft, with a small ovate palea. There are two
_lodicules_. The _pedicelled spikelets_ are dorsally compressed. The
_first glume_ is lanceolate, oblong, subacute, many-nerved, coriaceous
and glabrous. The _second glume_ is as long as the first, many-nerved,
lanceolate-oblong, coriaceous and glabrous. The _third glume_ is
hyaline, shorter than the second, 3-nerved, paleate and with three
stamens. The _fourth glume_ is shorter than or equal to the third,
hyaline, 1-nerved rarely with two short lateral nerves, female or
imperfect. _Lodicules_ are two.

A very common grass occurring in the plains and lower hills, all over
the Presidency and grows well in all kinds of soil.

_Distribution._--All over India.

[Illustration: Fig. 143.--Apluda varia.

1, 2, 3 and 4. The first, second, third and the fourth glume,
respectively, of the sessile spikelet; 3a and 4a. are the palea of the
third and the fourth glume, respectively; 5. stamens, ovary and
lodicules; 6, 7, 8 and 10. the first, second, third and the fourth
glume, respectively, of the pedicelled spikelet; 9 and 11. palea of the
third and the fourth glumes.]

25. Rottboellia, _Linn. f._

These are tall, annual or perennial grasses, with leafy stems and narrow
leaves. The spikes are few or many, solitary or panicled, with a jointed
usually fragile rachis; the joints are rounded or compressed, hollowed
on one side and excavated at the tip. The spikelets are usually binate,
one-sessile closing or sunk in the cavity of the joint and the other
pedicelled, smaller than the sessile or rudimentary with the pedicel
usually adnate to the joints and equal to or shorter than it. The
sessile spikelets are bisexual, 1- to 2-flowered, equal to or shorter
than the joint and four-glumed. The first glume is coriaceous dorsally
flattened, obtuse, margins narrowly incurved. The second glume is
thinner than the first, broadly ovate, acute and gibbously convex. The
third glume is hyaline, ovate, acute, male or neuter, with a membranous
palea. The fourth glume is hyaline, bisexual, broadly ovate, acute with
a hyaline, ovate-lanceolate palea. There are three stamens with linear
anthers. There are two cuneate lodicules. Styles are two with laterally
exserted stigmas. The grain is broadly oblong. The pedicelled spikelets
are smaller than the sessile, male or neuter, with four glumes. The
first glume is herbaceous, many-nerved, ovate-acute, minutely bifid at
the ape