426 



Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



I)i,s( i; li' 1 ION. 



Annual (occasionally, under ceitiun conditions, behaving as a 

 bi- or triennial). Stei/is sleiider, seldom exceeding a lead-pencil in 

 thickness, up to 10 ft. liigh, and about O-jointed; whole plant smooth 

 except for the finely silky hairy joints of the sheaths; leaves 6-24 in. 

 long by i-f in. bi'oad, upper ones slightly narrowed of the base, 

 the lower ones long, attenuate and sometimes reduced of the base to 

 the stout mid-rib; lif/iilr (membraneous scale at the junction of the 

 leaf-blade and the siieath) about l/12th of an inch long; foirerinrj- 

 liead pyramid shaped, erect, 0-14 in. long and u]) io 10 in. wide at 

 the base; flowering branches usually in whorls of two to four, or 

 sometimes solitary itt the joint of the rnchis (stem), bare for from 



Sudan Grass, Groexkloof. 



Phuiti'il lUh Xovt'inber, 1020. D.ite of Photojjraph I Oil 



1921. 



\-2\ in., or occasionally with a long single branchlet springing from 

 \ery near the base; lower branches up to 9 in. long; flowers arranged 

 close together in pairs on the short branchlets, the larger of the two 

 bearing the seed is sessile (without a short stalk) and has a slender 

 twisted awn or bristle from the tip; the other is narrower on a short 

 slender stalk, without an awn; it is sometimes much reduced and 

 empty, but usually contains fully developed stamens. 



For the benefit of those who know a little botany and understand 

 the construction of the grass flowers, the following more or less 

 technical description of the inllorescence is given ; it refers to the 

 cultivated specimens : — 



Panicle ovate, pyramidal, erect, (1-14 in. long, and up to 10 in. 

 wide at the base; branches obliquely ascending, recurving; whorled 

 or sometimes solitary, the longest up to 9 in. undivided for from 

 1-2^ in., occasionally with a long slender branchlet from near the 

 base; rachis, branches, and branchlets very scabrid ; racemes 



