PLATE 151. 



Panicum Crtjs-pavonis, Nees var. rostratum, Stapf. (Fl. Cap. Vol 7. P. 396.) 



Nat. Order Graminese. 



Perennial. — Culms erect, stout, terete, up to 5 feet long, and to 3 lines 

 thick below, glabrous, smooth, about 5-noded, sheathed all along or the internodes 

 at length more or less exserted. 



Leaves quite glabrous, sheaths terete, striate, smooth ; ligules none, junction 

 of sheath and blade quite glabrous inside or scantily and very minutely pubescent. 



Blades lanceolate-linear from a slightly narrowed base, which is usually long 

 decurrent in the upper leaves, tapering to a very fine point, 3 to 10 inches by 

 5 to 9 lines, flat, rather firm, smooth above, scaberulous below, at least in the 

 upper part, margins cartilaginous, scabrid to spinulous, midrib broad, white. 



Panicle erect, linear-oblong, 4 to 10 inches long, dense; axis rather stout, 

 triquetrous, very . scabrid ; branches solitary or 2-nate, distant below, close above, 

 the lower Ij to 4 J inches long, forming sessile, stout, very dense, simple or 

 compound, subsecund false spikes ; rhachis usually beset with tubercle-based 

 bristles ; pedicels 2-nate or fascicled on very short branchlets, very short, up to 

 J line long, scabrid, tips obscurely discoid. 



Spikelets in -compact clusters, elliptic-oblong, caudate-acuminate, .^ to In- 

 line long, light green or tinged with purple. Glumes, lower very broadly ovate, 

 acute to subacuminate, clasping at the base, J to -| line long, 3 to 5-nerved, 

 scaberulous, upper herbaceous-membranous, broadly oblong, very concave, cuspi- 

 date-acuminate, equalling the spikelet, 5-nerved, rigidly pubescent between the 

 scabrid or spinulous nerves. Florets : loiver barren ; valve similar to the upper 

 glume, but flat or depressed oia the back, tips rostrate, laterally compressed, up to 

 ^ line long; pale oblong, keels scaberulous above. Perfect floret ovate-oblong,' 

 subacuminate or cuspidate, up to Ij line long, greenish yelloAv, smooth ; valve 

 crustaceous, 5-nerved. Anthei"s linear, ^ line long. Grain obovate-oblong, very 

 broad, f line long. 



Edbitat : Natal. On sand-flats near the mouth of Umzimkulu River, 

 Dtege; Durban Flats, ^McAanavi, 4 ; Umhlali, Wood, 3992; and without precise 

 locality Gerrard 496 ; Buchanan 269. 



This grass is very closely related to Panicum crus-galli, L, the " Barnyard 

 or Cockshih Grass " and has been by some writers considered to be only a variety 

 of it. P. crus-galli has also been found in Natal, but no specimens of it are in 

 the Government Herbarium. As the difference between these two grasses are 

 botanical only, it is quite probable that what is said of P. crus-galli as an agri- 

 cultural grass will also apply to P. crus-pavonis. Baron F. v Mueller says of it 

 that it is a rich but annual grass, and that it does well along river banks and near 

 stagnant water, and it was in such a locality that Wood's No. 3992 was collected. 

 He also says that it will succeed in somewhat saline soil, particularly near brackish 

 water-courses ; also that on the Lower Mississippi it has furnished as much as four 

 or even five tons of hay from an acre, and that cows and horses are very fond of 

 it whether fresh or dry. Another writer on English grasses says " that it is of 

 no agricultural value." It is, however, Avell known to farmers, by its popular name. 



Yig 1, Portion of rhachis with pedicels ; 2, lower glume ; 3, tipper glume ; 4, lower 

 valve ; 6, pale ; 6, upper valve ; 7, pale enclosing ovary, style and stigmas ; 8, ovary, style 

 stigmas, stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



