DACTTLOCTEHIUM, Willd. 



SpIKELETS 3 to 5-flowered, laterally compressed, densely imbricate, biseriate, sessile, 

 unilateral on a flattened rhaehis, the uppermost reduced ; rhachilla tardilv disarticu- 

 lating above the glumes, tough between the valves. Florets bisexual, the uppermost 

 rudimentary. 



GLUMES 2, unequal, strongly keeled, the lower ovate, acute, thin, persistent, the 

 tipper elliptic-oblong in profile, obtuse, ' mucronate or awned, firm, deciduous. 

 Valves ovate, sub-acuminate, 3-nerved, nmcronate or awned, deciduous with the 

 grains. Pales about as long as the valves, 2-keeled, subpersistent. Lodicules '2. 

 cuneate, minute. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous ; stvles distinct, verv long, subter- 

 minally exserted. drain sul)globose slightly laterally compressed, not grooved or 

 hollowed, rugose or punctate ; pericarp very delicate, irregularly breaking away ; 

 embryo scarcely equalling the length of the grain ; hilum basal, punctiform. 



ANNUAL OR PKRENNIAL. Leaves flat, subflaccid. Spikes in umbels of '2 to (i, 

 erect or stellately spreading ; tips of the rhaehis barren, mucroniform, usually curved. 



Species 3, one widely spread through the tropics. 



PLATE 441. 

 DAOTYLOCTENTUM /KGYPTIACUM, Willd. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VI L, p. f>4n). 



Nat. Order Gram mere. 



ANNUAL, 1-1 J foot high ; stems sometimes prostrate, rooting from the prolifer- 

 ously branched nodes. 



CULMS geniculately ascending, compressed, 2-3-noded, glabrous, sni(X)th, inter- 

 nodes exserted ; sheaths striate, the lower whitish, keeled above, glabrous, or scantilv 

 hispid ; ligules membranous, very short, scantily ciliolate ; blades linear, tapering to a 

 fine ]K)int, 1 to 5 inches by 1 to '2 lines, flat, subflaecid, glaucous, glabrous or hispid or 

 hisj)idly ciliate. hairs tubercle-based. Spikes 2 to (i, rarely solifarv, J to "1 inches 

 long, light or dark olive-grey ; rhachis keeled, scabrid. 



SPIKKLKTS 3 to 5-flowered, s])rea<ling at right angles, up to H line- long, 

 glabrous. 



GLUMKS, /otter about f line long, the upper cuspidately mucronate or awned : awn 

 curved, sometimes exceeding the glume. Valves 1^ to 1^ line long, mucronate or 

 awned ; anthers about J to \ line long : grain \ to \ line long, very rugose, reddish. 



Widely spread through tropical and subtropical regions. 



Habitat : NATAL. Near Durban, Williamson 3<S ; Plant S5 : Durban Flats, 

 Buchanan 3(5 ; Berea, Wood 592!) : Gennrd and McKcn 111 : Xululand, 200(1 feet 

 alt., Jenkinson 7 . 



This is the grass so much used for lawns in the Colon v. It will succeed under 

 light shade, and in the coast districts keeps green all the winter, and is liked bv stock. 

 Native name, is- Inane. 



In "Useful Plants of the Island of (itiam," published by the I'nited States 

 National Herbarium, it is stated that this grass is "edible, but coarse and not much 

 relished by horses." 



Fig 1, A spikelet ; 2, lower glumo ; 3, upper lume ; 4, valve : .">, pnle ; f>, pistil, stamens 

 and -lodionles ; 7, portion of leaf, highly magnitied, showing tubercle-based linirs. All 

 enlarged. 



