816 



Abinsi (Dalziel, No. 893, Herb. Kew), Lokoja (Dalziel No. 284^ 

 Herb. Kew), Jeba (Barter, Herb. Kew) in Nigeria and iound 

 in French Guinea, French Congo, Angola, Tanganyika Territory^ 



Nyasaland and Natal. 



Much used for thatch (Dalziel, Hausa, Bot. Voc» p, 15 



Andropogo7i ceresiaeformis). 



A perennial, most densely caespitose, 1-4 ft. high. 



Heteropogon, Pers. 



Heteropogon contortus, Roem, <fc Schult. ; Fl. Trop, Afr^ 



IX . p. 411. [Andropogon contortus ; Linn. Sp . PI . ( 1 753 )> 



p. 1045.] 



Ill, — Beauvois, Aerost. t. 23, f. 8 



Beauvois, Agrost. t. 23, f. 8 {H. glaber); Lam. EncycL 

 t. 840 {Andropogon contortus) ; Rchb. Ic. Fl. Germ. L t. 53^ 

 £F. 1496-7 {Heteropogon Allionii)\ Duthie, Indig. Fodder Gr. 

 N. India, t. 19; Vasey, Grasses, U.S. Dept. Agric, Bot. i. 1891, 

 p. 16; Agric. Gaz. N.S. Wales, iii. Nov. 1892, t. 53; Wood^ 

 Natal PI. ii. t. 121 {A. contortus); Engler & Drude, Veg. Erde, 

 ix. (1910) p. 565, f. 502 {A, contortus); Hitchcock, Grasses^ 

 U.S. Dept. Agric. Bull. No. 772, 1920, p. 274, f. 165. 



Vernac. names, — ^Bunsurundaji (Hausa, Dalziel) ; Sarala. 

 (India, Duthie) ; Pili (Hawaiian Islands, Hitchcock) ; Aggar 

 (SomaUland, DraJce- Brockman) , — Spear Grass, Bunch Spear Grass^ 



Wild Oats. 



Tropical Africa and throughout the Continent in India, the 



Mediterranean region and widely spread in many tropical and 



sub-tropical countries. 



The grass is used as a fibre in the manufacture of coarse 

 mats and for thatching in India where it is also largely used 

 as a fodder plant, both before and after it has flowered, but- 

 chiefly when it is young and tender; in Rajputana and Bundel- 

 khand it is the principal fodder-grass, cut and stacked after the 

 rains ; it is said that the hay will keep good in stack for 12 years- 

 (Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. India). In Austraha, in an ordinary 

 season on deep rich soils it produces a great bulk of herbage 

 which cattle eat readily whilst it is young ; but when it becomes 

 old the stems get wiry and the foHage harsh, and it is then 

 seldom or never eaten if other herbage is plentiful ; although an 

 excellent grass to encourage on a cattle-run it is not recommended 

 on sheep-runs^ — the sharp-pointed seeds not only injure tlie 

 wool, but they often enter the skin and vital parts of the animals 

 (Turner, Agric. Gaz. N.S, Wales, iii. Nov. 1892, p, 857). ''A 

 splendid grass for a cattle-run as it produces a great amount of 

 feed; but is dreaded by the sheep owner on account of its: 

 spear-like seeds " (Maiden, Useful Native PL Aust, p. 90) and in 

 general it is described as a good fodder grass when young ; but 

 very troublesome and even dangerous when mature on account 

 of the sharply pointed calli of the fertile spikclets, which 

 penetrate the skin and membranes of the mouth^hence the 



