There are four glumes in the spikelet. The first glume is hyaline, broadly ovate, rounded and shortly acute or subacute, indistinctly 3- to 5-nerved or nerveless, less than one-third of the height of the third glume. The second glume is membranous, ovate-lanceolate acute, 7- to 9-nerved. The third glume is equal to and broader than the second, always paleate and with three stamens and 9-nerved; palea is hyaline, oblong, obtuse or subacute, margins 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. Chamæraphis, 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.
Chamæraphis 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.