638 GRAMINED (Stapf). [ Cteniwm. 
LVIII. CTENIUM, Paunz. 
Spikelets of 8-4 florets, sessile, compactly crowded, unilateral, 
alternately biseriate along the midrib of the flattened rhachis; 
rhachilla disarticulating above the glumes, continuous between the 
valves, the lower 2 florets barren or the second male, the third 
Glumes unequal, the lower persistent, keeled, thin, 1l-nerved, the 
upper much longer, oblong to lanceolate, flattened or rounded on 
the back, firm, 2-3-nerved, with a stiff awn from the middle. 
Valves oblong in profile, obtuse, 3-nerved, awned just below the 
tips, ciliate along the nerves or the uppermost glabrous, white, thin. 
Pales slightly shorter, 2-keeled or 2-nerved. Lodicules 2, quadrate- . 
cuneate, delicate, faintly nerved. Stamens 3 in the hermaphrodite, 
2 in the male florets. Ovary glabrous; styles distinct, stigmas 
slender, long, laterally exserted. Grain free, embraced by the 
unchanged valve and pale, oblong; embryo up to 2 the length of 
the grain; hilum basal, punetiform. 
Perennial, densely tufted, rarely annual; leaves narrow, flat or convolute ; 
spikes terminal, solitary or in umbels of 2-3, usually curved ; spikelets prettily 
pectinate and awned. 
Species about 9, in Africa and America. 
1. C. concinnum (Nees, Fl. Afr. Austr. 287); perennial, densely 
tufted ; culms erect, 11-2 ft. long, villous or pubescent below the 
spike, 2-noded, upper 2 internodes very lon 
exserted ; leaves mostly crowded at the base; sheaths tight or the 
excurrent, awn scareely exceeding the glume; lowest valve barren, 
more or less cuspidate or apiculate, ciliate, 12 lin. long, awn 2-4 iin. 
long ; second valve slightly longer, narrower, the cilia prolonged into 
up to lin. long; anthers of the hermaphrodite flower 1} lin. long, 
those of the male usually shorter, anther-cells acute; styles very 
short ; stigmas 14 lin. long. 
