Eragrostis] xxviii. gramine.e. 243 



leaves continuous with the sheath, very nari'ow linear, tapering 

 to a setiform apex, scabridulous, convolute ; panicle large, ovoid, 

 rhachis elongated bearing long, solitary, ascendo-patent distant 

 branches, secondary branches short, appressed to the primary and 

 bearing 2 to 5 shortly stalked spikelets ; spikelets narrowly linear- 

 oblong or lanceolate-oblong, dull olive-green, 5- to 7-flowered ; 

 barren glumes unequal, the lower bluntly ovate, enerved, or 

 1 -nerved with a faint scabridulous keel, the upper ovate-lanceolate, 

 subacute, strongly 1 -nerved with the keel scabridulous above the 

 base ; fertile glumes broadly bluntly ovate, with a strong median 

 and 2 sometimes imperfect curving lateral nerves which never 

 reach the apex ; pale slightly shorter, broad, with strong keels 

 scabridulous except at the base ; anthers red-brown ; grain reddish; 

 narrowly ellipsoidal with well-marked hilum. 



Culms exceeding 4 ft. in length ; leaves reaching 14 in. in 

 length, width not exceeding 11 line at the base. Panicle 13 

 to 14 in. long by 4 to 5 in. across, branches spreading at an 

 angle of SO'^ to 45°, the lower 5 in. long becoming shorter 

 upwards, lowest internode 1^ to 2 in., lowest secondary branch 

 generally about 1 in. from the base of the primary, and f to 1 in. 

 long, the upper shorter. Spikelets about i in. long ; lower barren 

 gl. i to i line, upper 1 line long ; fertile gl. 1 to little over 

 1 line ; anthers a little over ^ line ; grain a good \ line. 



A striking species characterised by the large panicle with long 

 strict distant spreading branches, and appressed branchlets, the 

 markedly unequal barren glumes of the spikelets, and the 

 elongated slender almost setiform leaves. 



HuiLLA. — Rather rare on the herb-grown banks of streams in the 

 LopoUo district ; April I860. No. 2672. On grassy banks of streams 

 between LopoUo and Humpata : May 1860. No. 2627- 



21. E. airaeformis Rendle sp. nov. 



Perennial with a strong, very hard, creeping rhizome, bearing a 

 dense terminal tuft of barren leaf-shoots and a tall erect culm ; 

 root-fibres stout, tough; culm-internodes 6, the lowest very short 

 (i in.) and the next enveloped by the loose papery glabrous leaf- 

 sheaths, the upper half as long again or twice as long as the 

 glabrous sheath, nodes glabrous, scarcely well-marked ; hgule very 

 short, densely hairy ; leaves rigidulous, narrow linear-tapering, 

 convolute, glabrous, scabridulous, apex setiform ; panicle ovoid, 

 branches slender, verticillate or subverticillate, sometimes solitary, 

 weakly ascending, lateral branches filiform, short, subappressed 

 bearing 4 or fewer, shortly stalked, dirty greenish-brown, sub- 

 compressed, scarcely compact, linear, generally 6- to 8-flowered 

 spikelets ; barren glumes subscarious, pale, rather narrowly ovate, 

 blunt, 1 -nerved, the narrow keel scabridulous above the base, the 

 lower about 1 shorter than the upper ; rhachilla tough ; fertile 

 glumes with a pale brownish scarious tip, ovate, blunt, 3 -nerved, 

 lateral nerves curved and falling short of the apex, midrib 

 minutely scabridulous above the middle; pale broad, slightly 



