PLATE 162. 



Panicum natalense, Hochst. (F1. Cap. A'o]. Vil., p. 412). 



Nat. Order Gramineae. 



Perennial, compactly tufted ; whole plant glabrous. — Culms erect, slender, 

 Aviry, I to IJ foot long, l-k!-noded, uppermost internode usually long exserted. 



Leaves crowded near the base ; sheaths terete, tight, firm, the lowest per- 

 sistent ; ligule an obscurely ciliolate rim ; blades filiform, ^ to over a foot long, f 

 to J line thick, terete, acute, canaliculate, wiry, flexuous, very rarely partly flat, 

 strongly nerved and sometimes minutely hairy on the upper surface, smooth. 



Panicle erect, lax, contracted or open, 2 to 6 inches long ; axis filiform, like 

 the subcapillary or capillary branches, branchlets and pedicels smooth ; branches 

 mostly solitary or irregularly approximate, laxly divided from near the base, the 

 longest f to 2 inches long ; pedicels solitary or 2-nate, very unequal, the longer i 

 to 4 lines long, tips subcupular. 



Spikelets turgid, broadly ovate to ellipsoid, obtuse, I line long, light green, 

 sometimes tinged with purple, glabrous. 



Glumes subequal, subherbaceous, very similar, elliptic, more or less obtuse, 

 5-nerved. Florets, loiver male ; valve like the glumes ; pale subequal to the 

 valve. Anthers J to § line long ; perfect floret ovate, obtuse or subacute, f to * 

 line long, white, smooth ; valve coriaceous, faintly 5-nerved. 



Habitat: Natal. Novelo Hills, 7000 feet alt., Sutherland; margins of 

 woods near the Umlazi River, Krauss 188 ; Inanda, Wood 151(2 ; and without 

 precise locality, Buchanan 73, 258 ; Van Reenen, 5-6000 feet alt., December, 

 Wood 7219; F. Lauth, Pearson's Falls, May; Zululand, Jenkinson, December 

 (Wood 7310). 



Drawn from Wood's 7219. 



This grass is also found in Basutoland and Transvaal. Mr. Jenkinson gives 

 the native name as Ntolwana. 



Fig. 1, Lower valve ; 2, pale ; 3, stamens and lodicules ; 4, upper vabe; 5, pale; 6, 

 pistil, stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



