582 GRAMINE® (Stapf). [ Sporobolus, 
4. §. festivus (Hochst. ex A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 398) var. 
stuppeus (Stapf); perennial, compactly tufted; culms erect or 
sea ascending, re der, 1-1 ft. long, glabrous, smooth, 2-3- 
noded ; upper sheaths glabrous except at the ciliate margins, smooth, 
the tte short, firm, at length breaking up into numerous persistent 
fibres, about } in. long, the inner covered with pallid tow-like hairs ; 
ligules a minutely ciliolate or almost woolly rim; blades narrowly 
linear, tapering to an acute point, usually setaceously convolute, 
1-2 in. long, rarely more, by 1 lin, (when expanded), ¢ clabrous, smooth ; 
panicle oblong to ovate, erect, 2-4 in. by 1-14 in, lax; rhachis 
straight ; branches solitary, or amen fascicled, at length spread- 
ing, liform to capillary, repeatedly branched from near the base; 
secondary branchlets flexuous, he ary ; pedicels extremely fine, 
smooth, 2—3 times the length of the pikelets, rarely longer ; spikelets 
oblong, rather obtuse, purplish, 3 8 in, long or rather less; 
hyaline, acute or acuminate, minutely denticulate, the lower oblong, 
erred: almost 3 the length of the spikelet, the upper ovate, nerve- 
less or faintly 1-nerved, about 2 the length of the spikelet; valve 
oblong, obtuse or subacute in profile, 1- to sub-3-nerved ; pale 
slightly shorter; stamens 3; anthers 2 lin. long; grain globose- 
ellipsoid, 1 lin. long, pericarp swelling and Barihins in Nias. seed 
free, compressed, oo quadrangular ; albumen 
KatanaRI REGIO « Tranavaal; Nylstroom River distant at te Fontein, 
Springbok Vlatke, Miao, 274! 
EastERN REGION: Natal ; Umsinga and at the base of Biggars Berg, 
Buchanan, 96! 
Also in Nyasaland and Jur. 
_ The type, which is known from Abyssinia, Eritrea and aay wURny pe! differs 
athe fs st of the peculiar fibrous coating of the culm-bas 
ry lax 
es. , 
iiivaric ate panicles and slightly larger spikelets with iba ab hme “shorter 
nother variety with similar fibrous tufts to those of var, stwppeus, but 
without the tow-lik m, Ww ulms usually taller, larger panicles and 
smaller spikelets (slightly exceeding 3 lin. Jong). occurs in most parts of tropical 
Africa, from the Niger and Nubia to ‘the Zambesi 
5. 8. discosporus (Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr. 158); perennial, tufted, 
with short barren shoots from the base of the culms; the latter 
4-8 in. pe slender, on ak smooth, 1—3-noded ; sheaths a oF 
close ; pil erect, oblong to dias lax, 1-2 in. by ner in. 5 
spreading at right angles, capillary, amooth, usually simple, 6-3 
spiculate from the middle; lateral pedicels very short gar 
secund, drooping, + lin. long, dark purplish or olive-green; 
very dissimilar, the lower equalling 3} the length pike 
ovate, acute, hyaline, nerveless, the upper as long as ais gg an 
; a 
fee eee SP Te ERI a eS 
