SUDAN" GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. 



this grass bears the vernacular name "capim de boi," which means 

 grass of the ox or cattle. Kamerun grass is undoubtedly a native 

 of the Kongo and Guinea coast regions of Africa, where numerous 

 travelers have found it growing wild, usually along watercourses. 

 It was no doubt introduced into Brazil by the slave trade and by the 

 same agency into Cuba, another place where it is now found. 



Besides the importations obtained by P. H. Dorsett, of the Office 

 of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, several other collectors, in- 

 cluding Burchell, 

 Blanchet, and Gard- 

 ner, found Kamerun 

 grass in Brazil (18). 

 The Kew and Berlin 

 herbaria contain 

 specimens from the 

 islands of St. Thomas 

 and Fernando Po, 

 from Kamerun, the 

 Spanish Guinea Hin- 

 terland, Togo, and 

 Boma on the Kongo 

 River and Nupe on 

 the Niger River. 

 Most of the speci- 

 mens, it will be 

 noted, are from the 

 Guinea coast region, 

 but Shantz 5 found 

 Kamerun grass in 

 abundance along the 

 Lualaba River and in 

 other parts of east- 

 ern Belgian Kongo. 

 It would therefore 

 seem to be widely 

 distributed in the interior of equatorial Africa, as well as along the 

 Guinea coast. 



Under cultivation in the United States, Kamerun grass reaches a 

 height of 6 to 9 feet, with erect stems somewhat larger than a lead 

 pencil; narrow, rather harsh leaves with thick midribs; and a large, 

 loose, drooping panicle. (Fig. 6.) The individual spikelet is about 

 the same shape as that of Sudan grass, but smaller and pubescent, 



6 Dr. H. L. Shantz, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, spent 

 about 14 months, from July, 1919, to September, 1920, on a collecting trip in eastern Africa for the Office of 

 Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 



53321°— 21— Bull. 981 2 



Fig. 6 —Kamerun grass, S. P. I. No. 38005. Planted April 22. Pho- 

 tographed October 19. Plants ripening at a height of 7 feet. Chula 

 Vista, Calif., 1916. 



