

PLATE 130. 



ANDROPOGON CYMBARIUS (Linn. Mant. 11, 803, not Hack.). 



I'KKKXMAI, (>). CULMS erect, usually from a very slender and sometimes 

 ascending base, 3-6 feet or more long, often rooting from the lower nodes, terete. 

 glabrous, (i-lU-noded, simple or branched. Sheaths glabrous, rarely hirsute with 

 j;ubercle-based hairs, or villous at tlie nodes, terete Or keeled in the upper part, 

 the lowest whitish, withering or thrown ott', the middle and upper usually shorter 

 than the internodes. Ligule membranous, rounded or truncate, very short. Blades 

 lineai from a narrow base, long tapering to a fine point, | to over li foot, by :',-<', 

 lines, rarely narrower, rigid to subrlaceid, flat, glabrous or subhirsute at the base 

 from tubercle-based hairs, scaherulous or smooth except the scabrid or spinulous 

 margins, glaucous. 



1'. \\iri, K leafy, almost overtopped by its blades, linear-oblong, decompound, 

 usually dense. 1-2 feet long. Spathes obliquely ovate, acute or acuminate, 5-9 lines 

 . long, searious, often brilliantly red or purple, glabrous. Common peduncles filiform, 

 enclosed, spreading!}- hirsute above. Racemes usually half exserted from the 

 middle of the spathe and at a right angle to it. -i-4j- lines long, dense, subcoii- 

 tiguous. subsessile, with a tuft of long rigid yellowish hairs at the base of the 

 lower : joints 1 -.">, filiform, tunicate, i line long, ciliate ; pedicels very similar, 

 the terminal up to 1 line long. Spikelets of the lowest pair of the lowei 

 raceme alike, male or barren, the sessile of all the other pairs perfect, the pedi- 

 cel led male or barren. Perfect spikelets oblong, 1^-2 lines long, pale. Glumes, 

 Iniri'i- thinly chartaceous, minutely truncate, dorsally flattened, subglabrous or 

 pubescent, intracarinal nerves 3-5, mostly evanescent below the tip : keels spinu- 

 lously ciliate above ; callus very short, bearded ; upper membranaceous, obtuse, 

 3-nerved, nerves scabrid or ciliate above. Valves, lower linear-oblong, truncate, 

 obscuredly 2 -nerved or nerveless, subglabrous ; upper minutely 2-toothed, .almost 

 reduced to a reddish fine geniculate awn, 5-10 lines long. Pale 0. Stamens up to 

 1 line long. Pedicel-led spikelets oblong-lanceolate to oblong, 2-3 lines long, pale 

 to deep reddish, glabrous or pubescent. Glumes, lower subherbaceous, acutely 

 acuminate, 7-9-nerved ; keels spinulously ciliate ; upper acute, 3-nerved, ciliate. 

 Valves, /(wvr oblong, obtuse, up to H line long, faintly I-sub-3-nerved ; upper 

 linear to cuneate-linear, 1 line long or reduced, or 0. Anthers, if present, up to 



line long. 



-NATAL. Umpumulo, Bnci<nnn 228 ; Laing's Nek, Relmiann 6939 ; 

 Inanda. Wotxl 1304 ; without precise locality, Cooper 3346. Var. lepidux (Stapf) 

 bes \veeu Umzimkulu and Umkomaas, Drege ; Umpumulo, Bnc^anan 229 ; Zulu- 

 land. Entumeni, irooc? 3991. 



Kijf. 1, I'ortion of ])lant and panicle, about natural size ; 2, li<jtile ; 3, racemes, spathe 

 ivino\ci|. Si:txll<' x/ii/tr/ct4, lower fjluine, : 5, lower valve ; 6, upper valve ; 7, pistil, stamens 

 and lodictiles. Pedicelled x/n'/tt-lct 8. lower valve. Except Jiy. 1, aH enlarged. 



