PLATE 160. 



PANICUM COLORATUM, LINN. (Fl. Cap. Vol. VII , p. 409). 



Nat. Order Graminepe. 



PERENNIAL. CULMS erect or ascending from a geniculate. often decumbent 

 and branched base, rather stout, 2 feet or more long, glabrous, 4 to 8-noded, inter- 

 nodes more or less exserted ; sheaths striate, glabrous or more or less hirsute, with 

 tubercle-based hairs, the upper rather tieht ; ligule a membranous minutely or 

 obscurely ciliate rim ; blades linear to lanceolate-linear from a usually Avidened 

 and rounded base, tapering to an acute point, 5 to 8 inches, by 2J to 4J lines, flat, 

 suberect, slightly rigid or sometimes flaccid, glabrous or sparsely hairy, glaucous or 

 subglaucous, margins smooth or scaberulous, more or less tubercled towards the 

 base. 



PANICLE erect or nodding, lax, 4 to 9 inches long, up to 6 inches broad when 

 fully expanded ; axis very slender, smooth, at least below ; branches solitary, 

 opposite or 2-4-nate, distant, the loAvest 4 to 7 inches long, filiform to capillary, 

 straight or flexuous, loosely divided from ^ to 2j inches above the base, scaberulous 

 or smooth below. Pedicels solitary or 2-riate, unequal, the longer 1 to 1 J line 

 with cupular tips. 



SPIKELETS scattered or in scattered clusters, or more or less approximate, 

 oblong, acute, 1 to 1^ line long, glabrous, green or purple. 



GLUMES, lower very broadly ovate, acute, up to J line long, 3 to sub- 5 -nerved ; 

 upper one oblong, subacute, prominently 7 -nerved. Florets, lower one male ; 

 valve like the upper glume, sometimes very slightly longer, 9-nerved ; perfect 

 floret narroAv, oblong, subacute, almost 1 line long, yellowish, shining, smooth ; 

 valve 7-nerved ; anthers f to * line long. 



Habitat : NATAL. Banks of Tugela River, 600 feet, Buchanan 262. 

 Also in Bechuanaland, Transvaal, Nyassaland, Lower Zambesi, and Egypt. 



Drawn from Buchanan's specimen, which is very imperfect, but the only one 

 Ave have. 



The spikelets are very similar to those of P. repens, but on the whole smaller. 

 This, together Avith the mode of growth and the more graceful and ampler rami- 

 fication of the panicle, makes the distinction of P. coloratum from broad leaved 

 forms of P. repens easy. P. coloratum of Jacquin (Ic. 1, 12), which is often 

 quoted as synonymous with P. coloratum, Linn, is identical with P. virgatum, 

 Linn, an American plant. 



Fig. 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume ; 3, lower valve ; 4, pale ; 5, stamens and lodicules ; 

 6, upper valve ; 7, pale ; 8, stamens, pistil and lodicules. All enlarrjetl. 



