380 
NEW GRASSES FROM SOUTH AFRICA. 
By A. B. Renpte, M.A., D.Sc. 
Berore his departure for the Cameroons last February, Mr. 
Rudolph Schlechter entrusted me with the working out o 
grasses which he collected on his expedition to western South 
Africa in 1897-8. There are altogether fifty species and varieties, 
including several hitherto undescribed. Some of the latter I have 
been able, by Dr. Stapf’s kindness, to match with species which will 
shortly be published in the continuation of the Grasses of the Flora 
Capensis. Others, however, are not found in the Kew Herbarium, 
and of these I append descriptions. The only one of special 
interest is the last, which forms the second species of the peculiar 
outh African genus Urochlena, a characteristic of which is the 
Separation when mature of the whole inflorescence partially en- 
closed in the spathe-like sheath of the uppermost leaf of the culm. 
Ehrharta Schlechteri Rendle, sp. nov. Annua radice fibrosa, 
cespitosa, culmis geniculatis erectis; foliis glaucis, vaginis com- 
1 ina lineari ve 
ll 
gl. v fertili late elliptica obtusa, grano oblongo compresso. 
Plants 20 to 40 cm. high, root-fibres long, thread-like; culms 
slender, with four to five internodes; nodes glabrous; sheaths 
striolate appressed, ultimately shorter than the internodes; ligule 
. - long; leaves 4 to 12 cm. long by 2 to 4 mm. broad, the 
shorter stronger and broader with a prominent scaberulous margin. 
Panicle to 11 cm. long, barely 2cm. broad at the base, tapering 
2mm 
Near FE. calycina Sm. (E. undulata Nees), but distinguished by 
the fo Pete ag third glume. 
en . 
PUSILLA Var. INmzQuicLUMIs Rendle, var. nov. Distinguished 
om the type, which it otherwise resembles, by the marked in- 
equality of the inner pair of glumes (glumes iii and iv), the short 
ie — = the lower scarcely exceeding the outer glume. 
oO. ‘ 
Agrostis Schlechteri Rendle, sp.nov. Annua cespitosa seaber- 
ula, culmis erectis foliatis ; foliis linearibus acutis; pannicula elli 
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