182 XXVIII. GRAMiNE/E. [Paiiicum 



a crowded base, geniculate at the lower nodes ; leaves linear with 

 a long tapering finely-pointed apex ; panicle large, diffuse, much- 

 branched, branches slender to capillary, spikelets purple, distant, 

 long-stalked, with divergent acute glumes ; glume I. ovate, midrib 

 strong, subcarinate and produced into a short stifi" awn ; gl. II. 

 ovate, acuminate, slightly exceeding the other two; gl. III. broadly 

 ovate, blunt, with a pale and a male flower ; fertile gl. shorter 

 than the barren, oval-oblong in outline in its natural position, 

 coriaceous, whitish, polished. 



The long glabrous spreading shoots (to 2^ ft.) are crowded at 

 the base apparently on a rhizome (broken off short in the specimen) ; 

 short stiff roots spring from their bases. Internodes long, slender, 

 rounded, smooth ; nodes glabrous ; sheaths i to r! length of 

 internodes, striate, appressed, with a minutely ciliate margin ; in 

 the lower part of the shoots loose and membranous after withering 

 of blade ; ligule short, membranous, fimbriate ; blades 6 to 10 in. 

 long by 2 lines or less in breadth, rather stiff, midrib very pro- 

 minent on the lower face, margins becoming revolute. Panicle 

 ovate, 8 in. long, bi-anches widely spreading, pedicels 2 to 4 times 

 the length of tbe spikelet. Glume I. 11 to 1} line long, incom- 

 pletely 5-nerved, midrib scabridulous on the back like the awn, 

 lateral nerves weak, successively shorter ; gl. II. convex, 11- to 1.1 

 line, shortly acuminate, with 3 strong nerves converging at the 

 apex and a pair of weak incomplete outer nerves ; gl. III. convex, 

 1 to 1'^ line, broader than the second, 5-nerved, 2 outer nerves 

 weak and ending below the apex ; pale strongly ribbed, broadly 

 ovate, with broad infolded margins, 1 line long, anthers dark- 

 coloured. Fertile gl. ^ line long, very broadly oval when the 

 strongly incurved edges are opened out, inconspicuously 5-nerved; 

 pale subequal. 



GoLUNGo Ai.Tt). — A monocarpic grass, spikelets obscurely violet, 

 distant. Rather rare in sunny sandy places between Cambondo and 

 Trombete ; 20 June 1855. No. 2959. 



Is near P. tri/pheron Schult., but distinguished by its delicate 

 diffuse panicle, with smaller spikelets. From the description 

 given by 8teudel is apparently allied to his P. anabaptistum 

 {I.e., p. 75), collected by Leprieur in Senegal. 



Evidently a widely diffused species in tropical Africa, as the 

 following specimens are referable to it. Hildebrandt No. 118G 

 and No. 1087, Zanzibar; Hoist No. 3120, Usambara; and 

 one from Christian Smith, Congo. 



40. P. madagascariense Spreng. Syst. i. p. 317 (1825); Steud., 

 I.e., p. 85 ; Durand & Schinz, I.e., p. 753. 



P. airoides Fliigge ex Nees in Mart. Fl. Bras. ed. i. ii., p. 175 



(1829). 



MosSAMEDKS. — A grass, apparently sometimes annual, sometimes 

 perennial, with leaves and stems glaucous in the living state. Common 

 on the sandy banks of the river Bero in the coast region ; July and 



