PLATE 164. 



PajSTICUM interruptum, Willd. (F1. Cap. Vol. VII., p. 413). 



Nat. Order GramineiB. 



Perennial. — Culms ascending from a creeping rooting base, 3 to 5 feet high, 

 stout, very spongy, internodes mostly exserted. 



Leaves glabrous ; sheaths loose, striate, transversely veined, the submerged 

 sometimes spreading, flattened and bladeless ; ligules membranous, truncate, up to 

 1 line long ; blades linear from a scarcely constricted base, long tapering to an 

 acute point, 4 to 12 inches long, by 3 to 6 lines wide, flat, flaccid, very closely 

 nerved, scaberulous, margins scabrid. 



Panicle erect, spike-like, cylindric, 6 to 12 inches long, by 3 J to 5 lines wide ; 

 axis stout, sulcate, smooth ; branches spirally arranged, very numerous, adpressed, 

 filiform, smooth, up to 2 lines long, divided from the base or reduced to fascicles of 

 disc-tipped pedicels. 



Spikelets oblong, acute or subacute, sometimes slightly curved, 1|- to 2 lines 

 long, glabrous, olive-green with dark tips. 



Glumes, lower one hyaline, almost orbicular, -I- to J the length of the spikelet, 

 finely 5 to 7-nerved ; upi)er one herbaceous-membranous, oblong, prominently 

 y -nerved. Florets, lower one barren ; valve like the upj)er glume ; pale about | 

 the length of the valve, hyaline. Perfect floret, oblong obtuse, whitish or yellowish, 

 1 to 1|- line long ; valve chartaceous, obscurely 5-nerved. Anthers ^ line long. 



Habiiat : Natal. In stagnant water near Durban, Drege 4709 ; in similar 

 situation, Diarban Flat, Wood 3589. 



Throughout tropical Africa and India to South China and Malaya. 



Fig ] , Lower glume ; 2, lower valve ; 3, pale ; 4, upper valve ; 5, pale ; 6, pistil, 

 stamens ftud lodicules. All enlarged. 



