shorter than the third, deeply cleft into
two lanceolate acute lobes, 3-veined at the base; awn up to about 2/3
inch long; _palea_ is linear lanceolate. Stamens are three and
_lodicules_ are small and cuneate.

The pedicelled spikelet is very variable. It is shorter than the
sessile, with obscure transverse ridges and may consist of four glumes,
but without an awn to the fourth glume; sometimes this spikelet is
reduced to a single glume.

The grain is broadly oblong, brownish and compressed.

_Distribution._--Throughout India and Ceylon.

[Illustration: Fig. 133.--Ischaemum pilosum.

A and B. Ligules.]

=Ischaemum pilosum, _Hack._=

It is a tall, robust, perennial grass with rhizomes producing numerous
creeping stolons densely covered with scaly-sheaths. The aerial stems
are erect, freely branching at the base, slender, 2 to 3 feet long,
glabrous.

The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous. The _ligule_ is a distinct glabrous
membrane, 1/8 inch long, rounded. _Nodes_ are glabrous.

The _leaf-blade_ is linear, finely acuminate, glabrous but bearded at
the base, 6 to 12 inches long and 1/8 to 1/3 inch broad.

The _inflorescence_ consists of two to six softly hairy spikes which are
yellow or brown 1 to 4 inches long. Joints and pedicels are slender,
sparsely ciliate.

[Illustration: Fig. 134.--Ischaemum pilosum.

1. A sessile and a pedicelled spikelet; 2, 3, 4 and 6. the first,
second, third and the fourth glume, respectively, of the sessile
spikelets; 5. palea of the third glume, 7. palea of the fourth glume; 8.
ovary; 9, 10, 11 and 12. first, second, third and the fourth glume,
respectively, of the pedicelled spikelets; 13. palea of the fourth
glume.]

The _sessile spikelets_ are narrowly lanceolate, 3/4 inch long, with
long hairs at the base. The _first glume_ is dorsally hairy, or
glabrous, narrowed from the middle upwards, chartaceous, with incurved
margins and six or seven anastomosing nerves. The _second glume_ is
longer than the first, laterally compressed, ovate-lanceolate,
acuminate, chartaceous, glabrous but often with long hairs on the keel
towards the upper half, 5-nerved, the lateral nerves anastomosing. The
_third glume_ is a little shorter than the second, linear-oblong or
lanceolate, paleate; _palea_ is membranous, nerveless, and encloses
three stamens. The _fourth glume_ is equal to the third glume in length,
membranous, hyaline and divided almost to the middle into two acute
lobes with an awn 1/4