ading,
secund, keels of palea winged 8. E. bifaria.

=Eragrostis interrupta, _Beauv._=

(_Var. Koenigii_, Stapf.)

This is a tall grass, annual or perennial, with erect stems 1 to 3 feet
or more.

The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous and close. The _ligule_ is a short,
fimbriate membrane. _Nodes_ are glabrous.

The _leaf-blade_ is narrow, flat, acuminate, glabrous on both sides, 3
to 10 inches long.

The _panicle_ is erect, narrow, contracted, with branches in
pseudo-whorls and varying in length from 6 to 18 inches, branches are
slender, filiform, two or more arising from the same level, 1 to 3
inches long.

The _spikelets_ are small, pedicellate, smooth, usually 6 to
14-flowered, pale but often tinged with red, the rachilla is jointed
between the flowering glumes, and breaks away from above downwards. The
empty _glumes_ are very small, subequal, ovate-oblong, hyaline, obtuse
and 1-nerved. Floral _glumes_ also are small but slightly longer than
the empty ones, ovate-oblong, obtuse and paleate, palea is linear-oblong
with smooth or scabrid keels. _Stamens_ are two with small anthers.
Grain is obovoid.

[Illustration: Fig. 217.--Eragrostis interrupta. Var. Koenigii.

1. Two spikelets; 2 and 3. empty glumes; 4. empty glumes with two
flowering glumes and their palea; 5. flowering glumes and palea; 6.
ovary and two stamens; 7. grain.]

This grass is a very variable plant and has a few varieties. The one
described above is Var. _Koenigii_ Stapf., and this is the one that
occurs very widely. The other two varieties which occur very rarely are
(1) _diarrhena_ Stapf. and (2) _tenuissima_ Stapf. The former is a tall
plant with very narrow panicle and spikelets and the latter either tall
or short and with a panicle bearing very slender divaricate branches.

This grass usually occurs in clayey soils especially on the bunds and in
the paddy fields.

_Distribution._--Throughout India, Burma and Ceylon. Also in tropical
Asia and Africa.

=Eragrostis amabilis, _W. & A._=

This is an annual tufted grass with slender, glabrous, erect or
geniculately ascending stems, 6 to 18 inches, leafy chiefly at the base.

The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous and smooth. The _ligule_ is absent or very
obscure.

The _leaf-blade_ is lanceolate-linear or linear, narrowed from a broad
subcordate base to an acute tip, smooth and flat.

The _panicle_ is ovoid-oblong or oblong, open or contracted, sparingly
branched; branches are fi