Pmiicum] xxviii. gramine^e. 16^ 



at the lower nodes and densely leafy below ; leaves short, linear- 

 lanceolate, acute, margins thickened, often minutely aculeate ; 

 spikes 1 or 2, short, consisting of a row of oval sessile spikelets 

 alternating on the lower surface of the somewhat broadened 

 rhachis; glume I. oblique, with numerous parallel nerves, loosely 

 wrapping the base and as long as the spikelets ; gls. II. and III. 

 similar, slightly shorter than gl. I., veins (7 or 5) with con- 

 spicuous cross unions, the third subtends a large pale with a 

 (^ flower ; fertile gl. equal to II. and III., concave, oval, finely 

 transversely rugulose. 



Shoots to 1}, ft. long ; nodes glabrous ; lower internodes 

 short slender (I in. or less) completely covered by tlie loose 

 subcompressed sheaths which are striate and glabrous with shortly 

 hairy edges and mouth. Ligule very shoi-t, truncate, membi-anous ; 

 leaf-blades ascending or spreading, glabrous beneath, sparsely 

 hairy above, li to 2^ in. long, 3 to 4 lines broad, flattened or with 

 incurving edges. Spikes single, or a secund pair at the end of 

 the long slender axis, f to 1 in. long. Spikelets 8 to 10 in a 

 dense single row ; the very short pedicel bears a few white hairs. 

 Glume I. large, membranous, ovate to oval, with a rounded apex 

 and numerous (17) pai-allel nerves, 1^ line long; gl. II. mem- 

 branous, broadly oval, rounded, nerves 7, converging above, IJ 

 line long ; gl. III. 5-nerved, with a broad pale with well-marked 

 nerves and strongly incurved edges, anthers orange-coloured ; 

 fertile gl. with a closely fitting pale and $ flower; lodicules 

 large (i line long), subquadrate. 



Near P.falciferam Trin., but distinguished by its broad spread- 

 ing leaf-blades, its glabrous spikelets arranged in a single row 

 with the large loose many-nerved outer barren glume. 



PuxGo AxDoxGo. — Damp meadows near Muta Lucala ; March 1857. 

 No. 2726- Common ia sandy low-lying wooded meadows between 

 Condo and Quisonde ; March 1857. JS^o. 2829. 



A specimen collected in Gambia by Mungo Park belongs to the 

 same species. It has longer leaves (2^ to 4^ in.) and spikes (to l}^ in.) 

 than Welwitsch's plants. 



6. P. humidicolum Rendle sp. nov. 



Stem stout, creeping, branching at its terminal node and 

 emitting a tall ascending thin erect shoot ; leaves stift', broadly 

 linear-lanceolate, subacute ; spikes 4 to 5, secund ; spikelets 

 large (2^ lines) oval, in a dense single row on the lower 

 face of the scarcely broadened rhachis ; glume I. nearly as long 

 as the spikelet, blunt with numerous parallel nerves ; gls. II. 

 and III. equal, hairy on the back, 7-nerved, with con- 

 spicuous cross-unions, blunt or apiculate, the third subtending 

 a pale Avith a ^ flower; fertile gl. oval, minutely apiculate and 

 finely transversely rugulose. 



Creeping stem 1 ft. long in the single specimen, internodes 

 1 to 3 in. long by 2 lines in thickness, leaves as in the erect shoot. 

 Erect shoot, with a geniculate ascending base, 4 ft. long ; lower 

 internodes 3 in. long, upper much longer, and with a circlet of 



