PLATE 152. 



Panicum ^quinerve, Nees. (F1. Cap. Vol. VII., p. 399). 



Nat. Order Gramineae. 



Perennial. — Culms suberect or ascending, very slender, 1 to l^ foot long, 

 laxly branched, many noded, glabrous, internodes usually exserted. 



Leaves glabrous or hairy ; sheaths thin, tight, striate ; ligule an obscure 

 minutely ciliate rim ; blades linear to lanceolate-linear from a suddenly contracted, 

 often subauricled base, tapering to a fine point, 1 to 2 inches by Ij to 2 lines, flat, 

 thin, smooth, margins scabrid. 



Panicle scanty, lax, erect, 'Z to 4 inches long, axis filiform, smooth ; branches 

 very few, 2-nate or solitary, distant, at length spreading, the longer 1 J to 3|- 

 inches long, simple or almost so, 5 to 2-spiculate, finely filiform to capillar}-, 

 flexuous, smooth, pedicels |^ to I line long, tips subcupular. 



Spikelets oblong, acute to subacuminate, about 1^ line long, greenish, 

 glabrous or pubescent, prominently nerved. Glumes, lower oblong, subobtuse, very 

 slightly shorter than the upper, 5-nerved, margins and tip hyaline ; upper glume 

 similar, broader, subacuminate, 7-nerved. Lower floret barren. Valve equal to 

 and like the upper glume, but 5-nerved. Pale half the length of the valve. 

 Perfect floret oblong, acute or subacuminate, 1 to l^ line long, yellowish. Valve 

 subcoriaceous, 5-nerved, smooth. Anthers over ^ line long. 



Ea.bita,t : Natal. Swampy places below 1000 feet alt., Dr'ege; near Um- 

 pumulo 2000 to 2500 feet alt., Buchanan 260. 



Drawn from Buchanan's No. 260, the only specimen in the Colonial Herbarium. 



We have no information as to the value of this species, nor can we ascertain 

 whether the natives have a distinctive name for it or not. The specimen from 

 which it was drawn was very incomplete, neither stamens nor stigmas could be 

 found. 



Fig 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume ; 3, lower valve ; 4, pale ; 5, upper valve ; G, pale ; 

 7, mature ovary ; 8, lodicule ; 9, pedicels and spikelets ; 10, portion of sheatli, and blade o£ 

 leaf with ligule. AH enlarged. 



