PxATE 90.—Orjptoooryne Cruddasiana Prain. 1. Plaat from Keja riTer, Kacliin Hilla; 2,
Bpathe with sbort peduncle; 3, spathe laid o p e n , — o f natural »ae; 4, male infloresoeaoe; 6, female
inQorecoeace; 6, ovule,—a// enlarged.
PLATE 91.
98. EEIOPHORDM MICROSTACHYDM Bceck. in Linnma, xxxviii, 399 (1874).
Natural order Cyperaceie.
A ciespitose perennial herb, 5—15 cm. high; stems slender, from the axils of
broad, membranous, brownish-coloured sheaths; leave» equalling or not much exceeding
the flowering stems, glaucous, linear, rigid, channelled above, margins serrulate;
spikelets subcapitate, 5—8 mm. long, many-fiowered; hracts 1—3, 'twice or three times
longer than the spikelets; glumes ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, expcsed portions
dark chesnut-brown; bristles many, about as long as the stamens and styles;
stamens 1—3; anthers oblong, abruptly mucronate; stj/les 3-fid, its branches rather
shorter than the connate portion, papillose; nut trigonous or somewhat plano-convex,
about as long as the style, obovate, with the apex attenuated. Sook. f . Flor. Brit.
Ind. vi. 66i (1893). E. comosum Wall. fi. nanum Nees in Wight. Cunirih. 110 (1834).
WESTERN HIMALATI : abundant in rock-crevices of the Deoban limestone range in
Jaunsar, at elevations of between 8,000 and 9,000 feet; head of the Jumna Valley;
Jacquemont. Naini Tal; Thomson. BHUTAN: Chupcha; Griffith.
A much smaller plant than E. comOsum, of which it has been regarded as s
depauperated alpine form. The inflorescence, however, is very different, arvd the leaves
and bracts are relatively very much shorter. Figures Bl and B2, representing &
spikelet and a flower of E. comosum, indicate other important differences, such as the
shape of the glumes, the length of the bristle, and the very different shape of the
nut.
PLATE 91.—Eriophorum loiorostaoliyuni Bach. Plant,—of natural sia». Al,
flower. Bl, spikelet of E. .comosum; B2, single flower of ditto,—ail enlarged.
spikelet; A2,
99. TRIPOGO« PUEPDRA6CEN8 Duthie.
Natural order Graminese.
AN erect densely tufted annual or perennial grass, up to 20 cm. :
haves many, setaceous, convolute, scabrid, margins ciliato towards their bases, sheath«
short; ligules minute, pilose; spikes simple, erect, flattened, 5 to 7*5 cm. long, on
rather short, brittle, sulcate scapes; rachis scabrid; spikelets about 4 mm. long,
glabrous, arranged bifariously in the excavations of the rachis, usually 2-flowered
with occasionally a third male floret at ihe summit; glume I very minute and
narrow, suifli in the hollow of the rachis and attached obliquely, hyaline, i-nerved;
glume II lanceolate acuminate, 1-nerved, keeled on the back, edges hyaline; glumt
I I I (flowering glume) about as long as II, hyaline, 3-nerved, obliquely bifid, and
•with a minute slender awn from the bass of the sinus; jiali truncate or bifid,
hyaline, S-nerved; hdiouUs minute, cuneat^e-oblong; Jilamenis shorter than the elongate
anthers; ovary obovate, glabrous; styles long, their bases remote.
WESTERN HIMALAYA: in the Tons Valley, Tehri-Garhwil, at elevations between
3,000 and 5,000 feet, also up to 7,000 feet on the open hillsides from Lambatdch to
Bamsu and Kulni, on the northern side of the Tons river. At the higher elevations
this plant forms compact masses of turf over considerable areas, and the peculiar
purple tinge of its foliage produces a marked feature from a long distance. In the
sandy bed of the Tons river it has been found in some abundance, endeavouring to
maintain a foothold.
This species is closely alUed to T. abyssinicus Fl. Brit, Ind. (not of Nees\. from
which it differs by its more compact habit of growth, its purple tinge, and by its
shorter leaves and spikes. The spikelets are more crowded and contain fewer florets,
usuaUy only two. When first detected in 1897, in the Tons Valley, it was distributed
under the name of Lepturus Roxburghianus, and this determination was accepted at the
Royal Herbarium at Kew. A more careful examination of the structure of the florets,
necessitated for the preparation of above description and the accompanying plate,
raised a doubt in my mind as to the correctness of this name, even generically.
The frequent presence of 3 florets in some of the spikelets, coupled with a habit
of inflorescence resembling that of a Tripoqon, were indications of a closer affinity
to that genus than to Lepturus. I should also mention that through the kindnesof
Major Prain I had an opportunity of examining Roxburgh's unpublished drawing
of ftottbcellia bijiora, which in the Fl. Brit. Ind. is included under Lepturus Roxburghiams
Steud., and this confirmed my opinion in regarding these two grasses as generically
distinct. Specimens of the Tons Valley grass were therefore again sent to
Kew with a note expressing my doubt as to the correctness of the former name.
I received in reply a very interestiog communication from Dr. Otto Stapf, who
after a careful re-examination of the material representing Lepturus Roxburghianus in
the Royal Herbarium, has very obligingly favoui-ed me with his views on the
subject. In the first place he is of opinion that Lepturus Roiburghianus should be
regarded as an Orcpetium, and secondly that this genus should be removed from the
tribe of Eordece to that of Chlorideoi, and next to Microchloa (see Flora Capensia,
vii, 743, where this latter opinion is recorded by Dr. Stapf). The affinity of
RottbmUia UJlora {Lepturus Roxburghianus), as well as of Oropetium Thommim, to
Microchloa had already been indicated by Roxburgh, who, in his " Flora Indica,"
included all three under the genus Roiiha:llia, In Dr. Stapf's opinion Lepturus
Roxburghianua Is represented at Kew by specimens collected by Law in Bombay, and
by King on Mt. Abu. Thoy agree exactly with Roxburgh's figure, except that in the
former the florets are minutely sUky-pubescent, whereas Roxburgh represents the
florets of his plant as glabrous. A specimen collected by Mr. J. K. Drummond in
the Hissar district, and quoted under Lepiurus liozburghianus in the Flor. Brit. Ind. vii.
365, has also pubescent florets, and the leaves and spikes are longer than in
Roxburgh's plant, though quite similar in other respects. Regarding the probable
position of Tripogon purpuraicens in (he geuus, 1 take the liberty of quoting the
following extract from Dr. Stapf's note :—
^^ Tripogon, as it stands at present (it iiaa not teen worked up mono graphically), ia a Eomewliat
heterogeneous assemllage. The species on which the genus was founded is T. bromoidet, and this
typo is repeated in T. Jiliformis and wixii snght modifications in T. oafillaius, Wigfiiii and (ri/idue,
ANS. EOY. BOT. GABD. OALC., VOL. ES,