CTENIUM, Pan/. 



SPIKELETS of 3 to 4 florets, sessile, compactly crowded, unilateral, alternately 

 biseriate along the midrib of the flattened rhachis ; rhachilla disarticulating above 

 the glumes, continuous l>et\veen the valves, the lower 2 florets barren or the second 

 male, the third hermaphrodite, the fourth male or barren or quite rudimentary. 



GLUMES unequal, the lower persistent, keeled, thin, 1 -nerved, the ii/t/x-r much 

 longer, oblong to lanceolate, flattened or rounded on the back, firm, 2-3-nerved, 

 with a stitt' awn from the middle. Valves oblong in profile, obtuse, 3-nerved, 

 awned just below the tips, ciliate along the nerves or the uppermost glabrous, 

 white, thin. Pales slightly shorter, 2-keeled or 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, quadrate- 

 cuneate, delicate, faintly nerved. Stamens 3 in the hermaphrodite, 2 in the male 

 florets. Ovary glabrous ; styles distinct, stigmas slender, long, laterally exserted. 

 Grain free, embraced by the unchanged valve and pale, oblong ; embryo up to i 

 the length of the grain ; hilum basal, punctiform. 



PERENNIAL, densely tufted, rarely annual ; leaves narrow, flat or convolute: 

 spikes terminal, solitary or in umbels of 2-3, usually curved ; spikelets prettily 

 pectinate and awned. Species alxnit 9, in Africa and America. 



PLATE 433. 



CTENIUM OONT-INNUM, Nees. (Fl. Cap., Vol. YIT., p. 03K). 

 Nat. Order Graminea?. 



PERENNIAL, densely tufted. CULMS erect, l to 2 feet long, villous or 

 pubescent below the spike, 2-noded, upper 2 internodes very long, at length inure 

 or less exserted. 



LEAVES mostly crowded at the base ; sheaths tight or the upper subtumid, 

 striate, glabrous, smooth, the basal ones compressed, persistent ; ligule extremely 

 short, minutely ciliolate ; b'ades narrow, linear, acute, the basal up to 1 foot by ^ to 

 1 line, flat or setaceously convolute, smooth below, scaberulous above and along the. 

 margins. Spikes solitary, rarely paired, olive-grey, 3 to 10 inches, by 2 to 2 lines. 



SPIKELETS 3 to 3 lines. 



GLUMES, lower ovate, acuminate, about 1 J line long, keel coarsely scabrid ; 

 upper, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 3 to 3^ lines long, scabrid to hispiduloua, 

 tubercled on the nerves, 2-nerved, middle nerve emitting an obliquely erect awn, 

 not produced beyond it or faintly so or pel-current and even excurrent, side-m j rve 

 percurrent or excurrent, awn scarcely exceeding the glume. Valves, lowest barren, 

 more or less cuspidate or apiculate, ciliate, \\ line long, awn 2 to 4 lines long ; 

 second valve slightly longer, narrower, the cilia prolonged into a beard above the 

 middle with a rudimentary pale and 2 perfect or imperfect stamens, awn 3 t<> -'U 

 lines long, third valve like the second, but more delicate, shorter awned, with a 

 2-keeled glabrous pale, and a hermaphrodite flower ; fourth valve glabrous, delicate, 

 l line long, with a broad 2-nerved delicate pale and 2 stamens ; lodicules up t<> 

 \ line long. Anthers of the hermaphrodite flower \\ line long, those of the male 

 usually snorter ; anther cells acute ; styles very short ; stigmas 1^ line long. 



Habitat : NATAL. Umpumulo, 2000 feet alt,, Buchanan 179 ; Pearson's Falls. 

 Mny, /'. Laulli. 



Kifr 1, A spikelet ; 2, lower glume ; 3, upper glume ; 4, 1st valve : .">, 2i'.d valve : f>, 

 pale, lodicules and stamens from 2nd valve ; 7, 3rd valve ; S, pale ; it. pistil, stamens ;nnl 

 lodicules; 1(1, 4th valve : 11,pnle; 12, male flower. A/I m/nrt/i-il. 



