PLATE 137. 



DiGiTARiA ERiANTHA (Steud. in Flora, 1829, 468). 



Perennial, densely tufted. Rhizome short, praemorse. — Culms erect or 

 geniculate, rather stout, 1 J-S feet long, glabrous, 2-4-noded, usually simple, some- 

 times scantily branched below. Sheaths striate, rather loose, the upj)er shorter 

 than the internodes, the lowest more or less hirsute-tomentose at the base, other- 

 wise glabrous or scantily hirsute ; ligules hyaline between the more or less produced 

 margins of the sheath-mouth, 1^-4 lines long. Blades linear, tapering to a fine 

 point, ^-1 foot long, by 1-2 lines wide, or the lowest sometimes much shorter, flat 

 or with the margins revolute, rigid, rarely flaccid, glaucous, glabrous or scantily 

 hairy at the base, margins scabrous above. 



Racemes 4 to many, subdigitate, slender, erect, or suberect, 4-8 inches long, 

 straight or flexuous, sometimes pinkish ; rhachis very slender, triquetrous, angles 

 scarcely winged, scabrid, internodes up to 1 line long, rarely longer. Pedicels 

 2-nate, filiform, scabrid, unequal, the longer 1 line, rarely 1^ line long. 



Bpikelets oblong or ovate-lanceolate, ll-l-g- line long, sub-adpressed, pale 

 green, often silvery. Glumes, lower membranous, ovate, acute or obtuse, up to 

 I" line long, nerveless ; upper lanceolate, acute, about 1 line long, 3-nerved, with 

 4 lines of very fine, usually adpressed, long silky hairs. Valves equal, Zo»'er oblong, 

 or ovate-lanceolate, acute, 7-9-nerved, inner 4 side nerves like the middle nerve 

 very prominent, marginal nerves faint, lines of usually adpressed dense long silky 

 hairs ■ between the inner pair of side nerves and along the margins ; wjj^x'r sub- 

 chartaceous, oblong, shortly acuminate, 3-nerved, dull green. Anthers f line long, 



Esibitat : — Natal. Plant 62 ; between Umzimkulu and Umkomaas Rivers,. 

 Drege; coast regions, Sutherland ; Nottingham, Buchanan 133 ; very common 

 near Umpumulo, Buchanan 208 ; without precise locality, Gerrard 467 ; Zululand,. 

 Jenkinson 9 ; near Durban, Wood 7634. 



Drawn from Jenkinson's specimen and compared with Buchanan's 208 and 

 Wood's 7634. 



Mr. Jenkinson says of this grass : " Good for cattle ; found in scattered tufts. 

 A favourite grass for ticks. Used by natives for plaiting bracelets." 



Fig. 1, Ligule ; 2, rhachis with spikelets ; 3, upper glume ; 4, lower valve ; 5, upper- 

 valve ; 6, pale ; 7, ovary, styles, stigmas, stamens and lodicules. Except fij 1, all enlarged. 



