ing, 2-nerved or nerveless. The _second
glume_ is lanceolate, cymbiform, acute or acuminate, 3-nerved, margins
hyaline, ciliate, as long as the first chartaceous and the keel with a
serrulate wing above the middle. The _third glume_ is linear oblong,
hyaline, obtuse, ciliate, nerveless. The _fourth glume_ is the narrowly
winged 2-lobed base of the awn, lobes are lanceolate erect and _palea_
of the fourth glume is minute. _Lodicules_ are cuneate. _Stamens_ are
three.

The _pedicelled spikelets_ are oblong-lanceolate, acute or obtuse,
glabrous and male. There are three _glumes_. The _first glume_ is
glabrous or rarely puberulous, margins incurved, obtuse, 9- to
11-nerved. The _second glume_ is ovate, acute, 3-nerved. The _third
glume_ is oblong or linear-oblong, hyaline, apex rounded, ciliate and
faintly 2-nerved.

This grass grows all over the Presidency in open dry situations and is
very widely distributed.

_Distribution._--Throughout India--westward to tropical Africa.

29. Anthistiria, _L. f._

(_Themeda_, Forsk.)

These are tall grasses, annual or perennial. Leaves are usually long and
narrow. The inflorescence consists of racemes or panicles of fascicled
spikes in the axils of spathiform bracts. The spikelets vary in number
from six to eleven in a cluster, the four lowest being male or neuter,
and forming an involucre with whorled or superposed pairs round either
1-sessile bisexual spikelet with two pedicelled spikelets or two
superposed bisexual, the lower with one pedicelled, the upper with two.

The involucral spikelets are male or neuter, the largest, and consist of
three glumes. The first glume is oblong, lanceolate, dorsally flattened,
many-nerved, margins narrowly incurved and keels narrowly winged. The
second glume is membranous, lanceolate, acute, 3-nerved, with ciliate
margins. The third glume is hyaline, smaller than the second, 1-nerved
or this glume may be absent, stamens have large anthers. The pedicelled
spikelets are similar to the involucral in every respect but smaller,
male or neuter, but the first glume is not winged on the keels. The
bisexual (or female) spikelets are smaller than the involucrant
spikelets, linear-oblong, subterete, obtuse with a rigidly bearded
callus. There are four glumes in the spikelet. The first glume is
terete, or dorsally compressed or channelled, coriaceous and at length
hardened, margins incurved, dark brown to almost black when old. The
second glume is a