PLATE 465. 



ANDBOPOGON DISTACHYUS, Linn. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., p. 343). 

 Nat. Order Gramiuesc. 



PERENNIAL, tufted. CULMS erect, slender, 1 to 2% feet long, glabrous, terete 

 about 3-noded, simple or branched below ; sheaths terete, tight, glabrous or particularly 

 the lower, hairy, lowest reduced to villous scales ; ligules "membranous, about ^ to f 

 line long, ciliokte, blades linear, tapering to a long and sometimes very fine point, 2 to 

 (S inches by f to 1 line, flat, subrigid to flaccid, more or less hairy to villous or sub- 

 glabrous, margins rough. Racemes 2-nate, very rarely 3 to 5-nate, distant from the 

 uppermost sheath, 2 to 4 inches long, rather stout, strict or curved ; joints cuneate, 

 2 to ~2^ lines long, stout, translucent along the middle, finely pubescent on the back, 

 ciliate along the outer margin, tips denticulate, pedicels similar, slightly longer, firmer 

 and less translucent, tips produced into a denticulate lobe facing the upper glume. 



, Xettxile splkelets 5 to ,5^ lines long, pale green, tips often purplish, callus short, 

 obtuse, bearded. 



GLUMES, Joirer subherbaceous, broadly lanceolate, dorsally flattened, glabrous or 

 puberulous. rarely villous. Keels broadly winged above, wings membranous, whitish 

 or purplish,, intracarinal nerves about 7 to 11, partly evanescent below ; upper glume 

 distinctly shorter than the lower, rigidly membranous, boat-shaped, 3-nerved, softly 

 ciliate, tips minutely 2-toothed with an interposed bristle, about as long as the glume. 

 Valves equal, 3 lines long ; Incer 2-nerved, ciliate ; upper oblong, 2-fid to f , firmer 

 below, 3-nerved, lobes lanceolate, glabrous, awn slender, about 1 inch long, kneed 

 much below the middle, scab;:rulous below the knee ; pale minute or obsolete. Anthers 



line long, (irain oblong, 1 line long. 



tx male, similar to the sessile, about 4 lines long, but narrower. 



GLI'MKS, loti'er less acuminate and less distinctly winged, with a short terminal 

 bristle ; upper thinly membranous. Valves delicately hyaline, upper shortly bifid, 

 muticous. 



Habitat: NATAL. Newcastle, Buchanan 179; and without precise locality, 

 Buchanan 15. 



'' Common in the Mediterranean countries, also iii Abyssinia and on Cameroon 

 Peak/' 



Drawn from Buchanan's 179, which was kindly lent for the purpose by the 

 Director of the Koyal Gardens and Herbarium at Kew. 



Fig 1, Spikelets. Sessile spikeletYig 2, lower glume ; 3, upper glume ; 4, lower valve ; 

 5, upper valve ; 6, pistil, stamens and lodieules. Pedicelled spikekt7, lower glume ; 8, upper 

 glume ; 9, lower valve ; 10, upper valve ; 11, floret. All enlarged. 



