PLATE 130. 



^Andkopogon CTMBAKirs (Llun. Mant. 11, 30:5, not Hack.). 



Perennial (?). — Culms erect, usually from a very slender and sometimes 

 ascending base, 3-6 feet or more long, often rooting from the lower nodes, terete, 

 glabrous, 6-10-noded, simple or branched. Sheaths glabrous, rarely hirsute with 

 tubercle-based hairs, or villoiis at the nodes, terete or keeled in the upper part, 

 the lowest whitish, withering or thrown ofl', the middle and ujJper usually shorter 

 than the internodes. Ligule membranous, roimded or truncate, very short. Blades 

 linear from a narrow base, long tapering to a fine point, ^ to ovei' Ir^ foot, by 3-6 

 lines, rarely narrower, rigid to subflaccid, flat, glabrous or subhirsute at the base 

 from tubercle-based hairs, scaberulous or smooth except the ."-cabrid or sjoinulous 

 margins, glaucous. 



Panicle leafy, almost overtopped by its blades, linear-oblong, decompound, 

 usually dense, ^-2 feet long. Spathes obliquely ovate, acute or acuminate, 5-9 lines 

 long, scarious, often brilliantly red or purple, glabrous. Conmion peduncles filiform, 

 enclosed, spreadingly hirsute above. Racemes usually half exserted from the 

 middle of the sjjathe and at a right angle to it, 2i^-4]- lines long, dense, suhcon- 

 tiguous, subsessile, with a tuft of long rigid yellowish hairs at the base of the 

 lower ; joints 1-3, filiform, truncate, |- line long, ciliate ; pedicels very similar, 

 the terminal up to 1 line long. Spikelets of the lowest pair of the lower 

 raceme alike, male or barren, the sessile of all the other pairs perfect, the pedi- 

 celled male or barren. Perfect sj)ikelets oblong, l|^-2 lines long, pale. Glumes, 

 hnrer thinly chartaceous, minutely trimcate, dorsally flattened, subglabrous or 

 pubescent, intracarinal nerves 3-5, mostly evanescent below the tip ; keels spinu- 

 lously ciliate above ; callus very short, bearded ; upper membranaceous, obtuse, 

 3-nerved, nerves scabrid or ciliate above. Valves, lower linear-oblong, truncate, 

 obscuredly 2-nerved or nerveless, subglabrous ; upper minutely 2-toothed, almost 

 reduced to a reddish fine geniculate awn, 5-10 lines long. Pale 0. Stamens up to. 

 1 line long. Fedicelled sp>iJcelets oblong-lanceolate to oblong, 2-3 lines long, pale 

 to deep reddish, glabrous or pubescent. Glumes, loivei' subherbaceous, acutely 

 acuminate, 7-9-nerved ; keels spinulously ciliate ; upper acute, 3-nerved, ciliate. 

 Valves, lotver oblong, obtuse, up to 1^ line long, faintly l-sub-3-nerved ; upper 

 linear to cuneate-linear, 1 line long or reduced, or 0. Anthers, if present, up to 

 1' line long. 



. H?t.bitat :^Natal. Umpumulo, Buchanan 228.; Laing's Nek, Rehmann 6939 ; 

 Inanda, Wood 1304 ; without precise locality, Cooper 3346. Var. lepidus (Stapf) 

 feesween Umzimkulu and Umkomaas, Drege; Umpumulo, Buchanan 229 ; Zulu- 

 land, Entumeni, Wood 3991. 



Fig. 1, Portion of plant and panicle, about natural size ; 2, lig-ule ; 3, racemes, spathe 

 removed. Sessile sjnkelei — 4, lower glume, ; 5, lower valve ; 6, upper valve ; 7, pistil, stamens 

 and lodicules. fedicelled spikelet — 8, lower valve. Except Jig. 1, all enlarqed. 



