ric, interrupted below; the rachis
terete, stout, channelled.

The _spikelets_ are glabrous, green, herbaceous, densely packed in small
fascicles, ovoid lanceolate, 1/6 to 1/5 inch long; many spikelets are
imperfect.

[Illustration: Fig. 100.--Panicum interruptum.

1 and 2. Front and back view of a spikelet; 3. first glume; 4. second
glume; 5. third glume; 6. palea of third glume; 7 and 8. the fourth
glume and its palea; 9. ovary, lodicules and stamens.]

There are four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is hyaline, membranous, about
1/3 the length of the third glume, broadly ovate or orbicular, obtuse,
5-nerved. The _second glume_ is membranous, ovate-oblong, obtuse,
prominently 9-nerved. The _third glume_ is as long as the second but
broader, ovate-oblong, 9-nerved, paleate; _palea_ is small with three
stamens or without them. The _fourth glume_ is shorter than the third
glume, lanceolate, subacute, thinly coriaceous white, polished, dorsally
convex; the _palea_ is as long as the glume and thinly coriaceous. There
are two small _lodicules_.

This is a rank marsh grass growing abundantly in permanent marshes and
edges of tanks and ponds. Cattle eat this along with other grasses, when
young and not covered with algae.

_Distribution._--In swampy situations throughout India and Ceylon.

=Panicum trypheron, _Schult._=

The plant is a tufted annual leafy at the base, with branches spreading
a little at the base and then erect, varying in length from 1/2 to 3
feet. Stems are stout or slender, cylindric or slightly compressed
towards the base.

The _leaf-sheath_ is striated, green or purple tinged, shorter than the
internodes, the upper portion hairy (sometimes tubercle-based) and the
lower glabrous, with sometimes ciliate margin. The _ligule_ is a short
membrane with a fringe of slender hair-like processes. _Nodes_ are
glabrous.

The _leaf-blade_ is flat, convolute when young, linear-lanceolate, acute
or narrow linear-lanceolate, acuminate, hairy on both sides (hairs
indistinctly bulbous-based); margin is very minutely serrate and often
ciliate with tubercle-based hairs; base is narrowed, slightly rounded or
cordate; midrib is conspicuous though narrow and keeled; length 1 to 7
inches and breadth 1/8 to 3/8 inch.

The _inflorescence_ is a diffuse panicle 4 to 14 inches long with
filiform, divaricate, scaberulous, angled branches; the main _rachis_ is
angular, smooth below and scaberulous above; peduncle is cylindri