PLATE 151. 



PANICUM CRUS-PAVONIS, Nees var. rostratum, Stapf. (Fl. Cap. Vol. VII., p. 396). 



Nat. Order Graminea3. 



PERENNIAL. CULMS erect, stout, terete, up to 5 feet long, and to 3 lines 

 thick below, glabrous, smooth, about 5-noded, sheathed all along or the internodes 

 at length more or less exserted. 



LEAVES quite glabrous, sheaths terete, striate, smooth ; ligules none, junction 

 of sheath and blade quite glabrous inside or scantily and very minutely pubescent. 



BLADES lanceolate-linear from a slightly narrowed base, which is usually long 

 decurrent in the upper leaves, tapering to a very fine point, 3 to 10 inches by 

 5 to I! lines, flat, rather firm, smooth above, scaberulous below, at least in the 

 upper part, margins cartilaginous, scabrid to spinulous, midrib broad, white. 



PANICLE erect, linear-oblone, 4 to 10 inches long, dense ; axis rather stout, 

 triquetrous, very scabrid ; branches solitary or 2-nate, distant below, close above, 

 the lo-ver 1| to 4| inches long, forming sessile, stout, very dense, simple or 

 compound, subsecund false spikes ; rhachis usually beset with tubercle-based 

 bristles ; pedicels 2-nate or fascicled on very short branchlets, very short, up to 

 line long, scabrid, tips obscurely discoid. 



SPIKKLETS in compact clusters, elliptic-oblong, caudate-acuminate, 1^- to Ij 

 line long, light green or tinged with purple. 



GLUMES, lower very broadly ovate, acute tosubacuminate, clasping at the base, 

 J to f line long, 3 to 5-nerved, scaberulous, vpper herbaceous- membranous, 

 broadly oblong, very concave, cuspidate-acuminate, equalling the spikelet, 5-nerved, 

 rigidly pubescent between the scabrid or spinulous nerves. Florets ; lower barren ; 

 valve similar to the upper glume, but flat or depressed on the back, tips rostrate, 

 laterally compressed, up to i line long; pale oblong, keels scaberuious above. 

 Perfect floret ovate-oblong, subacuminate or cuspidate, up to Ij line long, greenish 

 yellow, smooth ; valve crustacemis, 5-nerved. Anthers linear, ^ line long. Grain 

 obovate-oblong, very broad, f line long 



Habitat : NATAL On sand-flats near the mouth of Umzimkulu River, 

 Drecje ; Durban Flats, Jjiic/ittnan 4 ; Umhlali, Wood 3992; and without precise 

 locality, <lcrrr<l 496 ; Buclnnnui 269. 



This grass is very closely related to Panicumcrus-goMi, L, the "Barnyard 

 or Cpckshin Grass,'' and has been by some writers considered to be only a variety 

 of it. P. fi-itft-j/filli has also been found in Natal, but no specimens of it are in 

 the Government Herbarium. As the difference between these two grasses are 

 botanical only, it is quite probable that what is said of P. cnix-i/nlli as an agri- 

 cultural grass will also apply to /*. crnx-jHtronifi. Baron F. v. Mueller says of it 

 that it is a rich but annual grass, and that it does well along river banks and near 

 stagnant water, and it was in such a locality that Wood's No. 3992 was collected, 

 lie also savs that it wi 1 succeed in somewhat saline soil, particularly near brackish 

 water-courses ; also that on the Lower Mississippi it has furnished as much as four 

 or even five tons of hay from an acre, and that cows and horses are very fond of 

 it whether fresh or dry. Another writer on English grasses says "that it is of 

 no agricultural value." It is, however, well known to farmers, by its popular name. 



Fig. 1, Portion of rhacliis with pedicels; 2. lower glume; 3, upper glume: 4. lower 

 valve; ,">, pale ; C, upper valve ; 7. pale enclosing ovary, style and s-ti^mas ; S, ovary, style 

 stigmas, stamens and lodieules. All rnlnryed. 



