385 



Guinea. D. exilic, ou*the otlier hand, is only known In the culH- 

 vated state from the area indicated aboTe. 

 The following is a description of "Fundi." 



g 



Stapf 



Annual, over 0-5 m. liigli. Culms glabrous, erect or geiiiculate- 



ascendiiifiT, 



5-8 



Tiodes, nodes constricted, mostly shortly exserted from the sliealhs, 



uppermost internode long exserted. Leaf sheaths tight, or the 



lower and intermediate somewhat loose and slipping off thp inter- 



nodes, striate, glabrous, smooth, the lower more or less l<eeled ; 



ligiiles membranous, rounded, broad, up to 2 mm, long; blades 



linear, gradually attenuated to an acute point, 0-5-1-5 cm. by 

 3-7 mm* ^-^ ^ "» -^ m ^ -. 



flat, glabrous, midrib slender, primary side 

 3-4 on each side, llacemes 2-4. di^ritate. sessile or 



nerves 



10 



9 



D. exilis. Fig. 1, part of raceme X ti ; 2, part of rhacbij^, spikelets 

 removed X 8; 3, spikelet; 4, upper glume; 5, lower valve; 6, upper valve 

 with valvule of lower floret in front (the middle nerve should have been 

 shown thinning out towards the base); 7, upper valve, back view (the side 

 nerves are too mnch emphasized, and the middle nerve is omitted); 

 8, valvule; 9, fruiting spikelet; 10, seed. ri<;s. 3-10 x \0, 



the terminal shortly peduncled, 5-12 (rarely 14) cm. long, slender, 

 pale green in flower; rhachis flat, '^ "" ' ^ "^ ^ — j- 



almost 1 



m m . 



wide, 



green, morgins scabrid, midrib rather stout, wbitish, very sliglitly 

 convex and smootLi on the back, more or less raised, rounded and 

 almost smooth, or very sparingly and minutely pubescent on the 

 face; pedicels paired or (upAvards always) solitary or, towards tlie 

 base, approximate in groups of 3 or 4, flexuous, terete, with the 

 tips discoid, from less than 0--5 to 1 mm. long, whitish, smooth, 

 or sometimes very sparingly and miniitely asperulous or pubes- 

 cent. Spikelets subimbricate when in flower, elliptic-oblo-ig in 

 outline, acute, 1-75-2 mm, long, pale green, quite glabrous, flat 

 on the abaxial face. Glmnes very different ; the lower delicately 

 liyaline, nerveless, very minute or almost suppressed, the upper 

 broad-oblong, obtuse or subobtuse, hyaline between the 3 5 per- 

 current green nerves, slightly shorter than the spikelet. Valve 

 of loAver (barren) floret elliptic, subobtuse, as long as the spikelet, 

 thin, hyaline between the seven raised percurrent green nerves, 

 which are parallel and equally distant, or more often the three 



