The _inflorescence_ consists of five to fifteen or twenty spikes spreading in all directions, distant or crowded; peduncle varies from 1 to 4 inches. _Spikes_ are 1/2 to 1-3/8 inches, sessile or shortly stalked; the _rachis_ of the spike is slender, trigonous and scaberulous. [Illustration: Fig. 92.--Panicum prostratum. A. Front and back view of spike; B. front and back view of a spikelet; 1, 2, 3 and 4, the first, second, third and the fourth glume, respectively; 3a and 4a. the palea of the third and the fourth glumes; 5. anthers, ovary and lodicules.] The _spikelets_ are crowded all on one side, 2- to 3-seriate, ellipsoidal, 1/20 to 1/16 inch long, glabrous or pubescent, pale green or purple on one side, in pairs on pedicels, one with a slightly longer pedicel than the other; fine long hairs, varying in number from one to eight and longer than the spikelets, are found on the pedicels at their tips in some plants and not in others. There are four _glumes_ in the spikelet. The _first glume_ is very short about 1/4 of the third or less, semilunar, membranous, hyaline, subtruncate, obtuse or acute, generally nerveless, but rarely, obscurely 1- to 3-nerved. The _second glume_ is membranous, ovate, acute, glabrous or pubescent and 7-nerved. The _third glume_ is of about the same length as the second, 5-nerved, always paleate, with or without stamens; _palea_ is broad, margins infolded, 2-nerved, obtuse and hyaline; when stamens are present the _lodicules_ are very conspicuous. The _fourth glume_ is slightly shorter than the third, oblong or elliptic, apiculate, minutely rugulose, thinly coriaceous, with bisexual flower; _palea_ is similar to the glume in texture and markings. _Stamens_ are three with yellowish anthers. _Lodicules_ are small and fleshy. This plant occurs widely as a weed of cultivation in black cotton as well as other kinds of soil and shows variation in its leaves and spikelets. In some plants growing in somewhat dry places the leaves are shorter and broader, and those in favourable situations have longer narrower leaves. The spikelets are either perfectly glabrous or pubescent and long hairs may or may not be present on the pedicels. As regards colour the whole plant is green or the exposed portions of stems and spikelets are purplish. This grass is liked by cattle and is one of the most nutritious of Indian fodder grasses. _Distribution._--Throughout India and Ceylon in the plains. Common in the Tropics. [Illustration: Fig. 93.--Panicum javanicum] =Panicum javanicum, _Poir._= This is an annual and it branches freely and the branches are decumbent and rooting at the nodes at the base, and erect to some extent at the free end, 1 to 2 feet long; the internodes are glabrous, thinly striate, shallowly channelled on one side.