PLATE 115. 



Andropogon schirensis (Hochst. ex Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss, ii. 456) 



var. aiigustifolia (Stapf). 



Perennial, tufted. — Culms erect, slender, 2-3 feet long, glabrous, .3-4-noded, 

 simjjle, rarely with an additional flowering branch from one of the uppermost nodes. 



Leaves inainly crowded near the base. Sheaths terete, tight, glabrous, lowest 

 more or less persistent. Ligules membranous, very short, tnnicate. Blades narrow, 

 linear, tapering to a fine, sometimes setaceous point, 4-7 inches by 1 rarely 2 lines, 

 rather firm, glabrous, rarely hairy below, margins scabrid. 



Racemes 2-nate, rarely solitary, rather slender, 2-32- hiches long, strict or 

 subflexuous. Joints and pedicels very similar, cuneate-linear, 2-3 lines long, tips 

 ■deejaly hollowed and produced into a short irregularly toothed ajipendage, long 

 ciliate along the margins. Sessile .'<j}ikelets strongly laterally compressed, wedged 

 in between the pedicel and the joint, 2-2^-3 lines long ; callus slender, pungent, 

 densely bearded, 1 line long, sunk in the hollow of the preceding joint. Glumes 

 subcoriaceous or chartaceous, glabrous, smooth ; loivci- linear, subacute, keels narrow, 

 with a deep narrow groove (fold) between them, scaberulous above ; vjjjier boat- 

 shaped, finely raucronate, 1-uerved. Valves, loircr oblong-linear, obtuse, 2-nerved, 

 ciliate ; vpjxo' deeply bifid, 1-nerved, lobes lanceolate, acute, ciliolate. Awn f-1^ 

 inch long, slender, kneed and pubescent below the middle. Pale oblong, Ij line 

 long, nerveless or sub-2-nerved. Anthei's 1 line long. Pedicelled spilxletr. male, 

 dorsally compressed, 4-5 lines long, often reddish or jjurple. Glumes subherbaceous, 

 acuminate, glabrous ; loircr acutely 2-keeled, keels scabrid or rigidly ciliate above, 

 intracarinal nerves 8 ; vj)j)e)- linear-lanceolate, 3-nerved, ciliate. Valves, lower as 

 in the sessile sjiikelets ; vpper linear, shortly 2-toothed, muticous. Pale linear, 

 l-lj- line long. 



Eabitat : Natal. Umpumulo, Buclianan ] 95 ; Riet Vlei, Buchanan 193, 196 ; 

 and without precise locality, Buclianan 116, partly ; near Dundee, Green, 92. 



Figured from Green's specimen. 



Fig. 1, Plant reduced. FedlccUed spikelet — 2, lower glume, front view ; 3, same, back vieAv ; 

 4, uppei- glume, front view ; 5, upper valve, front view ; 6, pale ; 7, stamens and lodicules. 

 Sessile spikelet — 8, upper valve ; 9, lower glume, back view ; 10, same, front view ; 11, upper' 

 glume, side view; 12, lower valve, front view ; 13, stamens, ovarj-, stigmas, and lodicules; 

 14, pale; 15, portion of rhachis. Except Jif/. 1, all enlaryed. 



