330 GRAMINER (Stapf). [ Urelytrum. 
VII. URELYTRUM, Hack. 
Spikelets rn a 2-nate (one sessile, the other pedicelled 
with the pedicels appressed to the rachis) on the very fragile rhachis 
of solitary, sentient subcylindric, spike- like racemes, ‘the sessile 
deciduous with the contiguous joint of the rhachis and pedicel ; 
joints obliquely truncate “with appendaged tips. Sesszle spzkelets - 
Florets 2, lower g, upper $. Glumes equal or subequal ; lower 
coriaceous, dorsally flattened, 2-keeled, muticous ; upper subcharta- 
ceous or membranous, boat- -shaped, keeled. Valves hyaline, subequal, 
slightly shorter than the glumes, muticous, lower 2-, upper -sub- 
5-nerved. Pales almost equalling their valv ves, hyaline, 2-nerved. 
Lodicules 2, cuneate. Stamens 3. Stigmas linear, laterally exserted. 
Pedicelled spite with 2 ¢ florets and with the lower glume 
narrowed into a long subulate awn, otherwise as in the sessile 
spikelets, or more or less reduced, sometimes to a pair of rudi- 
mentary glumes, the lower of i. is represented by a long awn, 
flattened and eidésed at the bas 
Perennial ; culms oe pants noded, simple ; blades narrow, linear, flat or con- 
volute ; racemes long, st 
Distris. Species 1 or 2 in South Africa, 
osum (Hack. An ein in DC. Mon aiid Phan. 
siesibe getiereriet the int ne. except the eigen tight, 
terete, glabrous, smooth, the lower widened, very firm, shining, 
persistent; ligules oblong, 2-3 lin. long, glabrous or with a 
few long hairs behind ; ’ blades very narrow, linear, tapering 
ft. y in., flat co 
volute, rather —. glabrous, prom inently nerved and finely 
scaberulous above ; raceme — spike) 56 in. long, 13-2 lin. thick, 
4 lin. long, silky at the base, 
scantily pubescent to villous above nine endage up to 2 lin. long, aad 
sometimes to an awn representing the lower tsi “aiid a minute 
rudiment of the upper; awn squarrose, flattened below, sca seabrid, 
13-3} in. long. Durand & Schinz, Consp. Afr. vi. 7Ol. 
