CYXODON, I'ui's. 



SPIKKLKTS I-Howcred, small, laterally compressed, sessile, imbricate, alternately 

 -senate and unilateral on u slender keeled rhachis ; rhachilla disarticulatin- above the 

 guinea, produced, or not, beyond the valve. Floret hermaphrodite. 



GI.I-MKS narrow, keeled, or subulate-mucronate, the upper usually deciduous with 

 I he valve, the lower subpersistent, Valve exceeding the glumes, uavkular, tirmlv 

 membranous, 3-nerved, awnlews, keel ciliate. Pale somewhat shorter than the valve. 

 J-keeled. Lodicules 2, minute, obovate-cuneate, glabrous. Stamens 3. Ovarv 

 glabrous ; styles distinct, slightly shorter than the plumose stigmas. Grain oblong. 

 Bubterete : embryo about J the length of the grain : liilnm linear, f the length of the 

 grain. 



PUUENNIAL ; stems creeping, rooting at the nodes and emitting from them 

 fascicles of barren shoots and flowering culms : spikes > to (> in terminal umbels. 

 Species ->, \ in extra-tropical South Africa, the other almost cosmopolitan. 



PLATE 430. 



t'vxonox I)ACTYI,OX, Pern. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., p. (534). 



t 



Xat. Order Graminete. 



Ci i, MS from a few inches to 1 foot long, slender, glabrous, smooth, many-noded, 

 I lie lowr internodes very short, enclosed, the upper o-4 much longer, more or less 

 exserted. 



LEAVES usually conspicuously distichous in the barren shoots and at the base 

 of the culms ; sheaths tight, glabrous or hairy, often bearded at the mouth ; ligule a 

 very tine ciliate rim ; blades linear, finely acute to pungent, J to G inches, bv 1 to 1J 

 line, very rigid to flaccid, folded or convolute or flat, more or less glaucous, glabrous 

 or hairy, smooth below, scabcrulous above. Spikes ~2 to (J, straight. to '2^ inches 

 long : rhachis pubescent at the base, keel and margins scabrid or the keel smooth. 



SI-IKKI.KTS light green or purplish, ^ to 1^ line long : rhachilla produced, vcrv 

 slender, equalling J the length of the spikelet. 



< MM KS lanceolate, acute to subulate-mucronate, the lower \ to f line long, the 

 />/>er usually slightly longer, keels scabrid or smooth. Valve obliquely oblong to semi- 

 ovate, subobtuse or minutely apiculate, about 1 line long, keel ciliate ; keels of pale 

 scaberulous. Anthers oblong. ^ line lon. Grain ^ line lon. 



Habitat: XATAI.. Durban Flats, /htc/miinn. \~2 : o4 : Berea Wood. :!).">(). 

 and without pnrise locality, Bm-ltaiMit, '2(W ; Dundee, 40UO-")0((0 ft. alt. ; (r'rccn 71. 



An almost cosmopolitan grass. In India it is known as " Dub" or " Doub," in 

 other places as " Bermuda " grass, or " Devil's " grass. In the Southern States of 

 America it is higlilv valued as a pasture or fodder grass, but should only be planted 

 where it is to remain permanently, as its creeping roots make it very difficult to 

 eradicate when it has once got a firm footing. In India it is considered to be one of 

 the l>est of grasses, it endures drought, but will not stand much frost. In the coast 

 districts of Xatal it remains green during the winter, but will not be likely to do so 

 in the uplands. 



Fig 1, Portion of shcatli and blade showing li-i'iilu : '2, spikelft ; 3, lower glume ; 4, ujincr 

 gluiiiu ; 5, valve ; (5, palu ; 7, pistil stamens and lodiculcs. All enlarged, 



