Setaria] xxviii. gramine.t^. 187 



lets, ovately-oval, subpungent, oblique, scarcel}- 1 line long ; 

 glume I. shoi't, subgibbous, 3-norved, a little more than .'. the 

 length of the spikelet ; gls, II, and III. broadly ovate, 5-nerved, 

 shortly acute, the latter larger and subtending an equal pale with 

 a <? flower ; fertile gl. slightly shorter than gl. III., coriaceous, 

 transversely rugulose, strongly convex, light brown. 



Shoots 2 to 2^ ft. long, geniculate at lower nodes ; internodes 

 long, stiff, slender, terete, polished ; nodes well-marked, brown. 

 Sheaths stiff, loose, often longer than the lower internodes, but 

 shorter, often much shorter than the upper, striate, glabrous, 

 ciliate at the mouth, with minutely ciliate margins when young ; 

 ligule a dense row of short hairs ; lamina thin with subpromi- 

 nent light -coloured midrib and 3 lateral veins on each side, upper 

 face and margins minutely scabridulous, veins pilosulose on the 

 lower face, apex drawn out to a fine point, 5 to 10 in. long, 2 to 

 3 J lines greatest width. Panicles 4 to 6 in. long, generally ^ to 

 II in. broad; hi'anches generally about 1 in. long (rarely 2 in.) 

 below, becoming shorter as we ascend ; the longer ones bearing 

 short branchlets below. Spikelets reddish-green on very short 

 pedicels, which bear a single hair-like seta slightly exceeding or 

 2 to 3 times the length of the spikelet. Glumes shortly and 

 abruptly acute, except the fertile membranous ; gl. I. ovate- 

 orbicular, f line long ; gl. II. very broadly shortly ovate, l Hne 

 long; gl. III. broadly convex below, converging above to the 

 short acumen, pale large, flat, suboblong. Fertile gl. f to 4 line 

 long, oval or ovately oval in outline when in natural position, 

 faintly 5-nerved. 



Distinguished from the narrow-leaved varieties of S. maurlticma 

 by its smaller, more ovate spikelets, and non-plicate leaves. 



PuNCio Andongc. — Woody thickets between the prresidium and 

 Luxillo ; middle of Dec. 1856. No. 2753. Dec. 185(5. Nos. 2764 

 and 2764Z> ; No. 2858 (no information). 



Peince's Isla.mi. — A csespitose grass, polymorphous according to 

 the stage of development and condition of soil. In gravelly places 

 near the stream, growing with ferns not far from the sea. Evidently 

 an emaciated form of the same species as the Pungo Andongo plants. 



A very similar plant was collected by Don in St. Thomas' Island. 



5. S. mauritiana Spreng. Syst. i. p. 305 (1825). 



Panicimi pahiafolmm Koen. in Naturforsch. xxiii. p. 208 (1788). 



P. plicatum Lam. 111. p. 171 (1791); Benth. in Hook. Niger 

 Fl. p. 561 (1849) ; Durand & Schinz, I.e., p. 759. P. mauritiammi 

 Willd. ex Spreng., I.e. 



Prince's Islani>. — A very fine grass, csespitose, with stems 

 frequently 5, or even 6 ft., generally 4 ft. high. Common in dense 

 primitive woods near streams at the foot of Pico de Papagaio ; Sept. 

 1853. No. 2933. 



G(jLUNG(j ALT(^— A gigantic grass, G to 9 ft., very beautiful ou 

 account of its very broad longitudinally plicate leaves, worthy to be 

 classed among the ornamental plants of tropical Africa, extremely 

 varied in breadth and hairiness of leaf. Plentiful in shady rather 

 damp places, especially near streams, in the whole district of Golungo. 



