PLATE 103. 



PoLLiNiA NUDA (Trill. Aiidrop. in Mem. Ac. Petersb. ser. vi. ii. 307). 



Annual. — Culms very slender, decumbent, rooting, branched below, 2-5 feet 

 long, many-noded, grooved. 



Leaves : Sheaths as long as, or the upper shorter than, the internodes, terete, 

 tight, finely hairy or glabrescent. Ligules membranous, glabrous. Blades spread- 

 ing,' lanceolate from a constricted base, acuminate, 1-2|- inches long by 2-7 lines 

 wide, thin, often flaccid, glabrous or with a few tubercle-based hairs. 



Racemes (false spikes) 3-6, somewhat distant on a common axis, very slender, 

 flexuous, 1-4 inches long, green, joints equalling or exceeding the spikelets, gla- 

 brous. Pedicels like the joints but shorter. 



Spikelets rather distant, linear-lanceolate, 2 lines long, minutely bearded at 

 the base. Glumes membranous, loiv&r bicuspidate, dorsally concave, 2-keeled, 

 keels scaberulous, upper acuminate, 1 -nerved, obscurely keeled, ciliolate. Valves, 

 Zotf'er empty, linear-lanceolate, l|- line long, hyaline, glabrous, nerveless; upper 

 linear very narrow, 1 line long, hyaline, 1 -nerved, awn terminal, finely capillary, 

 flexuous, 6-9 lines long. Pale 0. Anthers |- line long. Grain 1 line long. 



Habitat : Natal. Riet Vlei in bush, 6000 feet, Buchanan, 292. 



Drawn from Buchanan's specimen in Natal Government Herbarium. 



Apparently a somewhat rare species in Natal since it is not reported as having 

 been gathered in any other locality, and Buchanan's is the only specimen in the 

 Government Herbarium. It appears to be plentiful in India, but I cannot learn 

 that it is of much value as a pasture grass. 



Fig. 1, Plant about natural size ; 2^ lowest glume, back view ; 2a, same, front view ; 

 3, upper glume, back view ; 3a, same, side view ; 4, lower valve ; 5, upper valve ; 6, ovary, 

 stamens, stigma, and lodicules ; 7, rhachis and spikelets. Except fig . 1, all enlarged. 



