436 GRAMINEE (Stapf). [ Pennisetum. 
equal or the lower which is reduced to an empty valve slightly 
shorter ; valves oblong-lanceolate, subulate-acuminate, 5-nerved or 
the lower 3-nerved ; lodicules subquadrate ; anthers about 1 lin. long, 
tips naked ; styles connate at the very base. Gymmothrix sphacelata, 
Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr. 68 
Var. 8, tenuifolium (Stapf); culms and blades very slender, almost flaccid, 
quite glabrous. P. tenwifoliwm, Hack. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iti. 380. 
C REGION : Queenstown Div. ; at the foot of the Stormberg Range between 
Klass Smits River and Stormberg Spruit, 4000-5000 ft., Drége ! on mountains at 
Fincham’s Nek, near Queenstown, 3900 ft., Galpin, 2368! 2371! . 
KALAHARI REGION: Orange Free State; near Winberg, Buchanan, 249! 
250! Var, 8: Transvaal; Pretoria Distr. ; near Wanderboom Poort, Rehmann, 
4490! Lydenburg Distr, ; Spitzkop Goldmine, Wilms, 1699! " 
EASTERN REGION: Transkei; between Gekau (Gcua) River and Bashee River, 
1000-2! y the Gekau River, 1000-2000 ft., Dré e! Natal ; 
Umsinga and at the base of the Biggarsberg Range, Buchanan, 107! Reit _Vigs 
4000 ft., Buchanan, 171! and without precise locality, Buchanan, 63 ! 721 75! 
The variety tenwifolium is scarcely more than a very weak state or shade form. 
The Abyssinian P. Schimperi, A. Rich., comes also very near and is perhaps not 
specifically distinct. 
slender, compressed below, 3-13 ft. long, about 2-noded, smooth, 
glabrous or pubeseent below the panicle ; upper internodes exserted, 
uppermost often long; leaves for the most part crowded at the base, 
hairy all over except towards the base of the sheaths; sheaths firm, 
lower short, persistent, striate, keeled or ultimately rounded, uppeT 
long, loose or subtumid; ligule a dense silky fringe of short hairs; blades 
near, tapering to an aeute point, 2~3 in. (rarely more) by 2-8 lin., 
keeled and folded or flat or involute, rigid, rather dull 
except towards the tips and along the scaberulous margins ; panicle 
cylindric, very dense, erect, 11—2 in 3-5 lin., purplish ; rhachis 
oblong-lanceolate, 13-2 lin. long, pallid, glabrous ; lower glume 
suppressed, upper very minute, hyaline, nerveless; lower floret 
reduced to an ovate acuminate 1-3-nerved valve of about half the 
lodicules 0 or very minute ; anthers 1 lin. long, tips minutely 
bearded ; styles almost free, although often more or less cohering 
Kunth, Enum. i. 164; Durand & Schinz, Consp. Fl. Afr. V- 786 ; 
Hackel in Bull. Herb. Boiss, iv. App. iii. 17. P. alopecuroides, 
en, , and in Mém. Acad. Pétersh, sér. vi, iii. 178, 7° of 
Spreng. P. cenchroides, Nees in Linnea, vii. 277, and 1. Afr : 
Austr, 70 (in part), not Rick. P. purpurascens, Durand § Schin# 
Consp. FI. K. 
