ns folded. The fourth _glume_ is white,
coriaceous, smooth and shining, oblong, acute, shortly and broadly
stipitate, with the margins folded inwards exposing only a third of the
palea; _palea_ is similar to the glume in texture and marking. _Anthers_
are deep orange in colour. _Lodicules_ are distinct though small.
_Stigmas_ are deep purple when mature, and pale when young.

This grass flourishes in moist situations such as the bunds of paddy
fields, tank beds and edges of marshes and is an excellent binder of the
soil. When once established it is very difficult to get rid of it, on
account of its rhizomes. Owing to the resemblance of the rhizomes to
ginger, some call this grass Ginger-rooted grass. Cattle are fond of
this grass.

_Distribution._--Throughout India, but not so common on the West and not
recorded from Bombay. It is said to occur in South Europe, Australia,
North Africa and Brazil.

5. Chamaeraphis, _Br._

These are glabrous marsh or aquatic grasses. Leaves are linear or
lanceolate. The inflorescence is a panicle. The spikelets are one-to
two-flowered, subsessile and subsecund on the branches which are
produced as awn-like bristles beyond the ultimate spikelet, obscurely
jointed and persistent on their obconic short pedicels, narrowly
lanceolate and terete. The spikelet consists of four glumes. The first
glume is very small, hyaline, suborbicular, nerveless and truncate. The
second glume is the longest, green, membranous, narrowly lanceolate,
acuminate or narrowed into a rigid awn, 7- to 11-nerved. The third glume
is lanceolate, acute, or aristately acuminate, 7-nerved, paleate, male
or neuter, the palea is smaller than the glume and hyaline. The fourth
glume is much smaller than the third, stipitate, bisexual or female,
oblong or ovate-oblong, acute, flat, thinly coriaceous, nerveless and
paleate; the palea is hyaline, as broad as the glume, acute and
nerveless. The lodicules are cuneate. Stamens are three. Stigmas are
laterally exserted. Grain is oblong, compressed.

=Chamaeraphis spinescens, _Poir._=

A glabrous aquatic or marsh grass, with much branched floating stems.
Stems are leafy, elongate, ascending, varying in length from 1 to 3
feet.

The _leaf-sheaths_ are long, smooth, loose, with naked margins. The
_ligule_ is a ridge of hairs. The _nodes_ are glabrous.

The _leaf-blade_ is flat, narrowly linear-lanceolate, smooth or scabrid,
acuminate, base narrowed, 1 to 3-1/2 inches long