Fig. 207.—Eleusine brevifolia.
1. A spikelet; 2 and 3. the first and the second glumes; 4 and 5. the third glume and its palea 6. lodicules, ovary and stamens.
Spikelets are sessile, biseriate, ovate-oblong, 1/8 to 1/6 inch long, 4- to 10-flowered. The first two glumes are membranous, ovate-oblong, glabrous, acuminate and shortly awned, the first glume is shorter than the second, 1- to 3-nerved, the second glume is longer than the first, 3- to 5-nerved, and the nerves are very close to the middle one in the keel. The third and the succeeding glumes are ovate, cuspidately acuminate, 3-nerved, nerves villous below the middle and paleate; palea is oblong, lanceolate, truncate and minutely 2-toothed, keels villous below the middle. Anthers are small. Lodicules are also small and cuneate. Styles are long and slender. Grain is orbicular to ovate, concavo-convex, red-brown, and transversely rugose.
This grass is usually found in somewhat damp situations all over the Presidency, though somewhat local in its distribution.
Distribution.—Sandy shores of the Coromandel and Carnatic coasts.
Fig. 208.—Eleusine ægyptiaca.