The _leaf-sheath_ is finely striate, keeled, thinly pubescent with the margins ciliate near the ligule. The _ligule_ is only a fringe of short hairs. _Nodes_ are softly hairy. The _leaf-blade_ is flat, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, softly pubescent or glabrescent on both the surfaces, with rounded or subcordate base and margins minutely serrate and ciliate, 2 to 6 inches long 1/6 to 1/2 inch broad; the midrib is distinct though slender with four to six main veins on each side. The _inflorescence_ is a pyramidal panicle 2 to 6 inches long, consisting of usually five to ten (rarely also up to twenty) erect or spreading spikes. _Spikes_ are distant, alternate and in some the lower ones are opposite, 1/2 to 2-1/2 inches long or shorter. The _rachis_ of the spike is thin, angular and scaberulous. The _spikelets_ are usually pubescent, ovoid or obovoid, acute, turgid, 1/8 inch, pale green and some occasionally purplish on one side, alternate close or distant, in pairs lower down and then one with a somewhat longer pedicel, solitary in the upper portions, pedicels with hairs, some of them especially those near the apex being longer. [Illustration: Fig. 96.--Panicum ramosum. 1 and 2. Back and front view of spike; 3 and 4. front and back view of a spikelet; 5 and 6. first and second glumes; 7 and 8. third glume and its palea; 9 and 10. fourth glume and its palea; 11. ovary, anthers and lodicules.] There are four _glumes_. The _first glume_ is nearly half the length of the third glume, broadly ovate, subacute, margin overlapping at the base, and usually 5-nerved. The _second glume_ is broadly ovate acute, rather cuspidate, usually 5-nerved (rarely 7-nerved). The _third glume_ is similar to the second glume, 5-nerved, paleate, empty; _palea_ is hyaline oblong, acute. The _fourth glume_ is ovoid-oblong, acute, coriaceous, rugulose, with short broadened stipes, and three faint nerves; _palea_ similar to the glume in texture and markings. _Anthers_ are orange-yellow; _style_ branches are purple. _Lodicules_ are small and fleshy. This grass is a common weed found in dry cultivated fields and open waste places and is one of the best fodder grasses available. _Distribution._--Plains throughout India and in Afghanistan. [Illustration: Fig. 97.--Panicum distachyum.] =Panicum distachyum, _L._= This grass is an annual. Stems are slender, rarely stout, creeping and rooting at the nodes, pale green or purplish, with erect or ascending slender branches, varying in length from 10 to 15 inches, glabrous or pubescent, channelled near the nodes. The _leaf-sheath_ is glabrous or glabrescent and sometimes hirsute; margin is ciliate. The _ligule_ is a fringe of short hairs. _Nodes_ are glabrous or pubescent.