Danthonia. ] GRAMINEZ (Stapf). 525 
broad when expanded, very hard, flexuous, glabrous, scabrid along 
the margins and on the back in the upper part, upper surface whitish, 
strongly and closely striate; panicle erect, oblong, very dense, 
4-7 in. long; axis stout, striate, angular, glabrous; branches solitary, 
lowest up to 3 in. long, abundantly and closely divided from the 
scabrid ; pedicels 1-2 lin. long; spikelets densely crowded, straw- 
coloured, 51-62 lin. long; florets 3-4, the uppermost rudimentary ; 
rhachilla glabrous, joints 1-31 lin. long; glumes lanceolate, long 
in profile, body 18 long, villous all over, 7-9-nerved; lobes 
narrow, about 1-12 lin. long, scaberulous and ciliolate, gradually 
passing into a mucro or short fine bristle, as long as the lobe or 
shorter; awn 4—6 lin. long, kneed at the middle, loosely twisted 
below, bristle flattened ; callus obtuse, very short, bearded; pales 
linear-oblong, obtuse, 12 lin. long, hairy below, keels stout, 
densely ciliolate above; lodicules ciliate; anthers almost 12 lin. 
ong; ovary glabrous, styles slender, distinct. Drége in Linnea, 
xx. 254; Steud. Syn. Pl. Glum. i, 248 ; r ‘ 
Fl. Afr, v. 849. Avena elephantina, Thunb. Prod. 23; Fl. Cap. 
1. 437 ; ed. Schult. 117; Kunth, Enum. i. 305. 
Sourn AFrica: without precise locality, Thom ! 
Coast Reaion : Vanrhynsdor Div.; Gift Berg, Drége; Malmesbury Div. ; 
Swartland, Thunberg! between Eikenboom and Riebeck Castle, Drége! Tul- 
bagh Div. ; Tulbagh Valley, Winterhoek, &c., Ecklon; Ecklon 5 Zeyher, 1388 
rb. ! Tr i 
smooth, tight, striate or sulcate, basal very close, sometimes 
numerous and subflabellate, 2-3 in. long, broad, often shining as i 
lacquered, enclosing a dense tuft of hairs at the ver 
Solitary, lowest up to 3 in. long, elosely and frequently divided from 
t € base; branchlets and pedicels filiform, scaberulous to scabrid ; 
pedicels. 1-3 lin. long; spikelets very crowded, straw-coloured, 
Sometimes tinged with purple, 6-71 lin. long; florets 3, the upper- 
most ru imentary; rhachilla glabrous, joints up to 4 lin. long ; 
glumes subequal, lanceolate, acuminate, scarious, smooth, glabrous, 
closely and strongly 3-nerved, scantily transversely veined ; body of 
Valves 2 lin. long, rather firm, 9-nerved, loosely pubescent on the 
s yeen 
the middle and the base of the lobes ; lobes subulate-lanceolate, 
