PLATE 161. 



Panicum dregeanum, Neep. (F1. Cap. Vol. VII., p. 411). 



Nat. Order Gramineaj. 



Perennial, tufted, innovation shoots intravaginal. — Culms erect, slender, 

 iirm, 1 to over 2 feet long, glabrous, terete, with about 2 exserted nodes. 



Leaves mostly crowded at the base ; sheaths tight, striate, ciliate, and usually 

 villous at the junction of the blade, otherwise glabrous or sparingly and softly 

 hairy, the lower very firm, fugaciously tomentose at the base, persistent ; ligule a 

 minutely ciliate rim ; blades narrowly linear, gradually passing into and often 

 distinctly narrowed towards the sheath, tapering to a fine point, 5 to 14 inches 

 long by 1 to 2 lines' wide, erect, usually convolute, sometimes flat, rigid, glabrous 

 except the more or less hairy or villous base, scabrid, closely and prominently 

 nerved. 



Panicle erect, more or less contracted, decompound, delicately branched, 

 oblong, 4 to 8 inches long ; axis slender, scaberulous ; branches solitary, 2 or 3-nate 

 or irregularly approximate, the longest 2 to 3^- inchies long, and undivided for ^ to 

 1^ inch, then laxly branched, filiform, scabrid, branches subcapillary or capillary ; 

 pedicels solitary or 2-nate, uneqaal, the longer often up to 3 to 5 inches long, 

 capillary, scabrid, tips subcupular. 



Spikelets somewhat obliquely ovoid and obliquely acuminate, slightly over 1 

 line long, greenish or more or less purphsh, gaping, prominently nerved. 



Glumes, similar, almost boat-shaped, ovate to oblong-ovate, acute or sub- 

 acuminate, Toiver one about ^ to ^ the length of the spikelet, often mucronulate, 

 5 to 7-nerved ; iipper one equalling the spikelet, 7-nerved. Florets, lower male ; 

 valve very similar to the upper glume, 5-nerved ; pale equal to the valved, oblong, 

 subacute, flaps very broad at the base. Anthers ^ to J line long ; perfect floret 

 oblong, obtuse, f line long, smooth, shining, white or yellowish, tips sometimes 

 purplish ; valve subcoriaceous, very faintly ^ to 7-nerved. 



Edbitat : Natal. Mouth of the Umzimkulu River, Drege ; near Durban, 

 Drege ; McKen 133; Williamson 25; Ingone, S^ttherland ; and without precise 

 locality, Buchanan 117 ; 261 ; Gerrard A77 ; Berea, March, Wood 5939. 



Drawn from Wood's 5939, and compared with Buchanan's 261. 



Also in Nyassaland. 



Fig, 1, Spikelet ; 2, lower glume ; 3, upper glume ; 4, lowei' valve ; 5, pale ; 6, stamens 

 and lodicules ; 7, upper valve ; 8, pale ; J>, stamens, pistil and lodicules. All enlarjed. 



