248 xxviii. GRAMiNEiE. [Erciyrostis 



Siingalala, sometimes pronounced Sangalale (plural Massangrala), is 

 the name which the negroes who inhabit the maritime territory of 

 Angola give to a kind of hay-grass, very plentiful along the coast, 

 which on account of its mode of growth becomes very dangerous to 

 travellers, because the stems are habitually curved in the form of bows, 

 rooting at their extremities and constituting at intervals natural snares 

 which cause the unwary to fall to the ground. 



This grass is so stiff, and its stems have so hard a fibre, that the 

 negroes of Angola use it almost exclusively for tooth-brushes ; the 

 negresses in returning to their huts from water-carrying or other 

 occupations are seen almost always busy polishing their teeth with 

 Sangalala. 



28. E. chalcantha Trin., I.e., p. 401 ; Steud., I.e., \\ 270 ; Durand 

 *fc Schinz, I.e., p. 881. 



PuNGo Andongo. — A caispitose grass with strict culms, 1 to 2 ft. 

 high. On the grassy slopes of the higher rocks of the prsesidium ; 

 18 Dec. 1856. No. 2756. Nos. 2864, 2876, 2965 (no notes). 



HuiLLA.— Abandoned fields near Ferrao da Sola ; Feb. 1860. 

 No. 7510. In pastures behind LopoUo ; Feb. and May 1860. No. 7520- 



Var. effasa Rendle var. nov. 



Distinguished from the ty^Q by its ettuse panicles, the branches 

 of which spread at angles between 45° and a light angle, and 

 .slightly more acute flowering glumes. 



Panicle to 5 in. in length by 2i in. across, rhomboid-ovoid ; the 

 spreading shortly stalked spikelets slightly rufescent, lanceolate to 

 lanceolate-oblong in shape, and about 1 in. long by 11 line broad. 



PuNGO ANnoNGo.— Dec. 1856. No. 2760. 



29. E. microsperma Rendle sp. nov. 



A csespitose annual, culms ascending at the base then erect, 

 internodes 5, subterete, glabrous, except the uppermost (flowering) 

 short ; nodes pale brown, glabrous ; sheaths and leaves rufescent, 

 lower sheaths broad, loose, subcompressed, enveloping the inter- 

 nodes, the upper becoming terete, margins and mouth pilose, 

 veins bearing scattered whitish glands in the upper portion ; 

 ligule a short dense row of hairs ; blades linear-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, rigidulous, scabridulous especially on the lower face, 

 sparsely pilose ; flowering internode much elongated carrying the 

 panicle far above the leaves ; panicle oblong, subeffuse, branches 

 slender, alternate, regular, spreading, bearing from the base 

 upwards the long-stalked spreading spikelets, pedicel with a 

 median annular gland, filiform, exceeding the spikelet, spikelets 

 tremulous, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, blunt, subcompressed, 

 polished, Briza-\\k.e ; barren glumes membranous and 1 -nerved, 

 scabridulously carinulate above the middle, the lower slightly 

 shorter, orbicular-ovate, blunt, the upper orbicular, slightly 

 bluntly apicnlate ; flowering glumes membranous, transversely 

 orbicular-ellipsoidal, nerves weak, glabrous ; pales slightly shorter, 

 persistent, hyaline, purplish, keels hispidulous ; grain minute, 

 globose, with a symmetrical .subbasilar hilum, transparent reddish, 

 surface reticulate. 



