PLATE 112. 



Andropogon CEE,ESi.a;FOiiMis (Nees. Fl. Afr. Austr. 109). 



A perennial tufted grass. — Culms erect or ascending, very slender, 1-4 feet 

 long, glabrous, smooth, many-noded, simple below, branched above, branches 

 solitary or 2-4-nate, often sub-pendulous, filiform, with bearded tips ; collected into 

 a spathaceous raceme or panicle. Sheaths terete, tight, glabrous or hairy to 

 villous, shorter than the internodes. Ligules very short, rounded. Blades linear, 

 tapering to an acute point, 2-6 inches by 1-2 lines, flat, erect, somewhat firm, 

 glabrous or hairy, turning red, midrib white. Spathes boat-shaped, acuminate, 

 f-l;^ incli long, membranous, reddish, glabrous, many-nerved. 



Racemes about 7-8 lines long, shortly peduncled, surrounded by the spathe, 

 except the pedicelled spikelets. Joints 6-8, filiform, villous above, about f line 

 long. Pedicels similar, finer, villous all along. 



Spikelets oblong, yellowish green or brown, hairy or glabrous and shining on 

 the back, the sessile l|^-2 lines long. Glumes, lower chartaceous, narrowly 

 truncate, intracarinal nerves 2, evanescent below ; upper membranous below, hairy 

 above, 3-nerved, tips generally awned. Valves, lower lanceolate-oblong, faintly 

 2-nerved, margins softly ciliate ; upper oblong- linear, bifid, almost 1^ line long, 

 1 -nerved, lobes very narrow, glabrous. Awn fine, about 5-7 lines long, kneed 

 below the middle. Pale very minute. Anthers 1 line long. Grain oblong, 

 dorsally slightly compressed. Pedicelled spikelets obtuse, about 2 lines long. 

 Glumes, lower 7-9-nerved, nerves unequal; upper 5-nerved. Valves, loioer 

 3-nerved, ciliate ; upper very narrow, linear, nerveless, awnless. Pale none. 



Habitat: Natal. All over the colony, Buchanan 224, 225; Berea, Wood 

 5932 ; Drakensberg, Wood 5994 ; Dundee, W. E. Green 85 ; Zululand, Jenkin- 

 son 65. 



Drawn from the specimens sent by Jenkinson, and compared also with 

 Buchanan's and Wood's specimens. 



From comparison of the difierent specimens we find that the indument of tlie 

 spikelets and the nervation of the valves is very variable. In Jenkinson's specimen 

 the villous hairs are almost absent, except on the rhachis. This grass is said to be 

 eaten by cattle, but is of little value. 



Fig. 1, Plant about natural size. Sessile spikelet — 2, lowest glume ; 3, upper glume ; 

 4, lower valve ; 5, upper valve ; 6, stamens, stigma, ovary, and lodicules. Pedicelled spikelet, 

 7, lower glume ; 8, upper glume ; 9, lower valve, and rudimentary ovary. Except Jig. 1, all 

 enlarged. 



