P(micum\ xxvht. gkamixe.e. 179 



HuJLi.A. — In bush-grown wooded places ;it Monino ; April 1860. 

 Xo. 2686. 



32. P. gracilicaule Kendle sp. nov. 



Annual, ca^spitose, glabrescent, shoots slender, branching, ascend- 

 ing to erect, sometimes geniculately decumbent below ; leaves 

 short, linear-tapering, acute, spreading to suberect ; panicle as 

 in last species but smaller ; spikelets glabrous, oval to ovate, 

 1 line long ; glume I. reaching about r length of spikelet, broadly 

 ovate, blunt, incompletely 3-nerved ; gl. IT. slightly longer than 

 gl. III., broadly f)vate, blunt, 5-nerved, very convex ; gl. III. 

 somewhat similai- but In-oader than gl. II. with broad translucent 

 margins, sheltering an ovate pale with a (^ flower; fertile gl. 

 small, thinly coriaceous, su1)orl)icular with a blunt apex, bearing 

 on the outside numei'ous white warts ; pale subequal similarly 

 warted. 



A graceful plant ; shoots subglabrous, 9 to l(j in. long, crowded 

 at the base. Internodes very slender, terete, 1 1 to '2\ in. long ; 

 nodes glabi-ous. Sheaths narrow, sul)compi-essed, striate with 

 minutely ciliate edges, about half the length of the internodes ; 

 ligule forming a row of stift' erect white hairs ^ line long; 

 blade I^t to 2~ in. long by nearly 2 lines broad, thin, veining in- 

 conspicuous, surface glabrous oi' minutely and sparsely hairy. 

 Inflorescence resembling that of the last species but the panicle 

 only from 2^ to 3 in. long ; spikelets glabrous. Glume I. | Hne 

 long, edges broad and translucent ; gl. II. 1 line ; gl. III. 

 scarcely 1 line, thinly membranous, suborbicular when flattened, 

 pale 4 line, anthers light brown, y line long. Fertile gl. i to H 

 line, 5-nerved, pale subequal, broadly oval, enfolding a 5 flower. 



Near P. subrepaiulum, but a smaller moi-e delicate plant, with 

 smaller spikelets, which ai-e also distinguished by the ovate lowest 

 glume and the very small fertile flower. 



Puxcio AxDoNco.— Nos. 2857, 2862'- (no information). 



HuiLLA. — Wooded meadows near Humpata, found in many places 

 but almost destroyed by the fires of the Monanensian war : April 

 1860. No. 2687. 



Also collected in Gambia by Mungo Park. 



33. P. Beccabunga Eendle sp. nov. 



A small glabrous herb with stems creeping and rooting at the 

 nodes, ultimately decumbent ; internodes short, leaf-sheaths !l 

 to }t their length, ligule i-educed to a very narrow membranous 

 ridge, blades short, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, with a rounded 

 amplexicaul base and acute apex ; panicle very small, ovate to 

 oval, branches few, ascending-rigidulous, pedicels short, spikelets 

 ellipsoid ; barren glumes submemln-anous, blunt, the outermost 

 subovately oval, 3-nerved, blunt, j' the length of the spikelet, 

 gl. II. oval, 5-nerved, slightly exceeding gl. III., which is oblong- 

 oval, with membranous incurving edges, and subtends a narrower 

 oblong pale ; fertile gl. coriaceous, broadly oval, polished, whitish. 



Shoots a foot, or generally more, in length, internodes terete, 

 al:)out ^ in. long, becoming a little shorter above, less than I line in 



