PLATE 139. 



DlGITAfelA SETIFOLIA (Stapf, Fl. Cap. Vol. VII. p. 376). 



PERENNIAL, densely caespitose. CULMS erect, very slender, } r l foot long, 

 glabrous. Leaves glabrous except the scantily hairy mouth of the sheath, or more 

 or less hairy, all crowded at the base, except the uppermost, which is reduced to a 

 very long almost bladeless sheath ; basal sheaths linn, persistent, at length break- 

 ing up into fibres; ligules very short, truncate. Blades filiform, setaceouslv 

 convolute, up to 2-6 inches long, rather firm, flexuous, smooth. 



RACEMES 2-3, slender, erect, 1-2 inches long ; rhachis very slender, angular, 

 smooth, internodes 1^-2 lines long, pedicels 2-nate, one very short, the other up 

 to 1^- line long, angular, scantily scabrid above. 



SPIKELETS oblong, obtuse, 1^- line long, greenish. (Humes. ln<n<r mini 

 rotundate, delicately hyaline; upper oblong, subacute, 1 j- line long. :!-nerved, 

 with lines of adpressed or slightly spreading, rufous capitellate haii-s between the 

 nerves, and along the margins, upper marginal hairs exceeding the glume. Valves, 

 lower 7-9-nerved, nerves prominent, except the submarginal hairs similar to tl 

 of the upper glume, in 4 dorsal and '2 dense marginal lines : up/id- subchartaceous, 

 oblong, subacuminate, chestnut brown, except the hvaline whitish margin. 

 Anthers | line long. 



Habitat : NATAL. Hillside, near Mooi River, 4-5000 feet alt., MHKI, <;. 

 Drawn from Mason's specimen, the only one in the Herbarium. 



Also in Tembuland, which is the only South African locality given for it in 

 the Flora Capensis. 



F 



valve 

 styles 



Fig. 1, Ligule ; 2, rhachis with pedicels; 3, upper glume ; 4, lower valve: ."). upper 

 s,front view ; 6, same, back view; 7, pale, front view : S, same, back view : !). ovary, 

 s, stigmas, stamens and lodicules ; 10, capitellate hair. All />/.'// ri/n/. 



