PLATE 119. 



Andropogon halepensis (Brot. Fl. Lusit. i. 89), var. ett'usus (Stapf in 

 Hook. £ Fl. Brit. lud. vii. 183). 



Perennial, stoloniferous ? — Culms erect, usually very tall, up to 10-16 feet 

 long, stout, simple or scantily branched. Sheaths glabrous, except the minutely 

 silky nodes, strongly striate ; ligules membranous, short, ciliate, hairy inside. 

 Blades linei^.r-lanceolate, or linear from an often rounded base, long tajDering to a 

 fine point, 1-2 feet long, f-2j inches broad, flat, glabrous, or with a silky line on 

 the back at the union with the sheath, margins serrulate, midrib stout. 



Panicle decompound, very large, up to l^foot long, effuse, nodding, lower 

 branches up to 1 foot long, often undivided to the middle. Hhachis and branches 

 or at least the ultimate branchlets scabrid and miniitely bearded at the nodes. 

 Racemes J-1 inch long, linear; joints 3-7, more than half as long as the sessile 

 spikelets, more or less ciliate ; })edicels very sijuilar. Sessile sjnkelefs ovate-lanceo- 

 late, 3-4 J lines long, 1-1^ line broad, j^ale, ultimately sometimes darker or even 

 black, shining. Glumes, loiver more or less hairy, at least on the sides, 7-13-nerved, 

 callus shortly bearded ; upper lanceolate, acuminate, shining, 5-7-nerved. Valves, 

 upper broadly oblong or ovate, 2-lobed, half as long as the glumes, ciliate, 1-nerved. 

 Awn 4-6 lines long, rarely longer, kneed, sometimes reduced to a bristle, or sup- 

 pressed. Pale linear-oblong, slightly shorter than the valve. Anthers l;^-':^ line 

 long. Grain obovate or obovate-oblong, -J shorter than the glumes. Pedicelled 

 spikelets almost as long as the sessile but narrower, male or barren. Glumes, lotver 

 herbaceou.s, glabrous, 5-9-nerved, kee's aculeolate or scabrid ; upper similar, 

 3-5-nervecl. Valves, when present hyaline, ciliate, 2- 1-nerved. 



Eabitat : Natal. Near Durban, JDrege ; banks of Tugela Eiver, Buchanan 

 296; Umlaas River, A'rm/.«.« 184 ; Umhlanga, Wood 1332, 6064; without precise 

 locality, Gerrard 690 ; Zululand, Jenldnson 51. 



Figured from Wood's 6064, and compared with Jenkinson's specimen. 



Baron F. v. Mueller says of this grass : " Attains a height of 5-6 feet. Not 

 easily repressed in moist ground. A rich perennial grass, often cultivated under 

 the name of ' Cuba grass' aiid ' Johnson grass.' * * * jt keeps green in the 

 heat of summer and is also a winter grass in frost-free localities, is not eaten out 

 by pasture animals ; it will also grow in drift sand of the coast, and will keep 

 growing in the dry season, when most other grasses fail, but improves much on 

 irrigation ; the roots resist some frost ; three tons can be cut from an acre in a 

 ■ single season. It yields so large a hay crop that it may be cut half a dozen times 

 in a season should the land be rich. All kinds of stock have a predilection for this 

 grass. Much overlooked in its importance for fixing loose soil on embankments. 

 It will mat the soil with its deep and spreading roots, hence it should be kept from 

 cultivated fields. Detrimental to Lucerne in meadows." Our p'ant is a variety of 

 the grass of which Baron v. Mueller writes. 



Fig. 1, Plant about natural size : 2, ihachis and spikelets. Pedicelled ^jyihelet-S, lower 

 glume ; 4, upper glume ; 5, upper valve ; fi, lower valve ; 7, pale and lodicules. Sessile 

 spiltelet — 8, stamens and pistil. Except Jig. 1, all enlarged. 



