e with short joints deeply excavate on one
side.

[Illustration: Fig. 147.--Manisuris granularis.

1 and 2. The front and back view of a bit of a spike; 3, 4, 5 and 6. the
first, second, third and the fourth glume, respectively, of the sessile
spikelet; 7. ovary anthers and lodicules; 8, 9, 10 and 12. the first,
second, third and the fourth glume, respectively, of the pedicelled
spikelet; 11 and 13. palea of the third and fourth glumes.]

The _spikelets_ are 1- to 2-flowered in dissimilar pairs, one globose,
sessile and bisexual and the other ovate, pedicelled, neuter; the
pedicel is adnate to the joint of the rachis.

The _sessile spikelet_ has four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is hard,
globose, foveolate, with an oblong opening, faintly nerved. The _second
glume_ is chartaceous, immersed in the cavity of the joint, and filling
the opening. The _third glume_ is small hyaline and empty. The _fourth
glume_ is hyaline, small and paleate. The grain is sub-globose.
_Lodicules_ are broadly cuneate.

The _pedicelled spikelets_ also have four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is
ovate, sub-chartaceous, winged on one side with a broad hyaline ciliate
wing, 5- to 7-veined. The _second glume_ is cymbiform, compressed
laterally, with a dorsal hyaline ciliate wing to the keel, 5- to
7-veined. The _third glume_ is hyaline, membranous, oblong, 2-nerved and
paleate or not, and with or without stamens. The _fourth glume_ is
similar to the third, but slightly smaller, paleate and with three
stamens.

This grass occurs in open loamy soils and in cultivated dry fields.

_Distribution._--Throughout India and Ceylon and also in most of the
tropical countries.

28. Andropogon, _L._

The grasses of this genus are either perennial or annual and vary very
much in habit. The inflorescence consists of solitary, binate, digitate,
or panicled racemes. The rachis is usually jointed and fragile.
Spikelets are binate, a sessile female or bisexual and a pedicelled male
or neuter. The sessile spikelet is 1-flowered and has usually four
glumes. The first glume is coriaceous or chartaceous, dorsally
compressed, with incurved margins, usually 2-keeled. The second glume is
as long as the first, thinner, with a median keel, laterally compressed,
awned or not. The third glume is hyaline, empty, nerveless and without a
palea. The fourth glume is hyaline, narrow or broad, 2-fid and awned, or
reduced to an awn more or less dilated at the base, paleate or