renniseium'\ xxviit. (jkamixkh. 18^ 



3. P. angolense Eendle sp. nov. 



Very tall, with unbranched erect culms and long tapering more 

 or less eiect involute leaves ; spikes long, cylindrical, whitish ; 

 spikelets curved, lanceolate, membranous, densely packed, the 

 spreading setse of the involucre becoming reversed; glume J. minute,, 

 orbicular-ovate ; gl. II. half the length of the spikelet, ovate, 

 3-nei'ved, the prominent midrib produced into a short awn; gl. III. 

 ovate-lanceolate, 5-nerved, subtending a subequal flat pale with a 

 c^ flower ; fertile gl. slightly longer, ovate, acute, 5-nerved, with 

 membranous incurved edges and a similar slightly narrower pale. 



A tall reedy grass, the shoots reaching 5 to 12 ft. high. Intei'- 

 nodes smooth, terete ; nodes glabrous ; sheaths loose, membranous,, 

 striate, exceeding the long internodes, hairy at the mouth ; ligule 

 a line of stift' dense whitish hairs aliout 1 line long ; lamina 10 to 

 22 in., linear-tapering, with the margins rolled inwards, and 

 a long aristiform apex; spikes 1], to 11 ^ in. on the specimens; 

 according to Welwitsch's note often exceeding a foot ; setae of 

 involucre rather stiff, ^ to \ in. long, with ascending barbs. 

 Spikelets 2 or scarcely 2 lines long ; glume I. enerved, hyaline, 

 -] to scarcely i line ; gl. II. thinly membi\anous, with a prominent 

 midrib and 2 inconspicuous lateral veins running 1 to -^ the 

 length from the base, ^ to 1 line including the awn ; gl. III. Ir! 

 line, sometimes with a sixth nerve passing r! the way up from the 

 base. Fertile gl. membrano-coriaceous, 1^ line, including a $ flower. 



Near P. liordeiforme Spreng., which it closely resembles in 

 habit, but is distinguished by the smaller moi-e membranous 

 spikelets with the awned not rounded second barren glume. The 

 involucral hairs ai'e less stiff, and their ultimate spreading or 

 reversed position gives the spike a different appearance. 



Puxao AxDoxGO. — A grass .5 to 8 or 10 ft. high, laxly caespitose, 

 with erect culms : spikes whitish, growing in large patches in marshy 

 clayey places between Condo and Bumba ; March 1857. No. 2723. 

 A very tall grass, 8 to 12 ft., but always with unbranched straight 

 culms ; spikes always over a foot, white, erect. Near Sobato Bumba, 

 thickly massed over wide ai'eas in marshy places ; la March 1857. 

 No. 7426. 



Var. laxespicata Rendle var. nov. 



Differs from the type in its less crowded spike and smaller 

 spikelets scarcely exceeding 1^ lines long. 



Huii.L.v. — Verv plentiful in wooded places round deep marshes, 

 near Ohay ; middle of May 1860. No. 7507. 



Sect, 2. — El'pennisetum. 



4. P. purpureumSchum.in Dansk.Vidensk.Selsk.iii. p.64 (1828). 

 P. Bentlimai Steud., I.e., p. 105; Durand & Schinz, I.e., p. 777. 

 P. macrostachjjum Benth. in Hook. Niger Fl. p. 503 (1849). 

 LoANUA. — A gigantic and very beautiful grass, growing about deep 



marshes, rising to 4-5 to 5 metres high. Marshes near Represa dc 

 Sr. Perreira Van Huneu ; thickly caBspitose ; July 1854. No. 7325. 



