ANDROPOGONE/E 2TT 



29. Anthistiria, L. f. 



( Tkemeda, Forsk. ) 



These are tall grasses, annual or perennial. Leaves are usually 

 long and narrow. The inflorescence consists of racemes or pani- 

 cles of fascicled spikes in the axils of spathiform bracts. The 

 spikelets vary in number from six to eleven in a cluster, the four 

 lowest being male or neuter, and forming an involucre with whorled 

 or superposed pairs round either i-sessile bisexual spikelet with 

 two pedicelled spikelets or two superposed bisexual, the lower 

 with one pedicelled, the upper with two. 



The involucral spikelets are male or neuter, the largest, and con- 

 sist of three glumes. The first glume is oblong, lanceolate, dorsally 

 flattened, many-nerved, margins narrowly incurved and keels 

 narrowly winged. The second glume is membranous, lanceolate, 

 acute, 3-nerved, with ciliate margins. The third glume is hyaline, 

 smaller than the second, I-nerved or this glume may be absent, 

 stamens have large anthers. The pedicelled spikelets are similar to 

 the involucral in every respect but smaller, male or neuter, but the 

 first glume is not winged on the keels. The bisexual (or female) 

 spikelets are smaller than the involucrant spikelets, linear-oblong, 

 subterete, obtuse with a rigidly bearded callus. There are four 

 glumes in the spikelet. The first glume is terete, or dorsally com- 

 pressed or channelled, coriaceous and at length hardened, margins 

 incurved, dark brown to almost black when old. The second glume 

 is as long as the first, linear, dorsally chartaceous, with broadly in- 

 curved membranous margins, 3-nerved. The third glume is very 

 small, hyaline, I-nerved, epaleate. The fourth glume is the flat- 

 tened base of the awn, epaleate. The lodicules are two, cuneate. 

 Anthers are rather small. Styles are laterally or terminally 

 exserted. Grain is narrow, obovoid, biconvex, with two grooves on 

 the anterior side and with a long embryo. 



