PLATE 172. 



Setaria rigida, Stapf! (Fl. Cap. Yol. Vll., p. 426). 



Nat. Order Gramineaj. 



Perennial. — Culms erect, rather stout, over 2J feet long, more or less com- 

 pressed or angular, glabrous, very rough below the panicle. Sheaths long, rather 

 tight and firm, smooth, glabrous except at the bearded mouth or along the ciliate 

 margin ; ligules truncate, very short, densely ciliolate. Blades erect, very narrow, 

 linear, subpungent, half to more than 1 foot long, 1 to Ij line wide (unfolded), 

 rigid, folded (or involute in the upper part), sparingly hairy towards the base, 

 margins rough. 



Panicle spike-like, cylindric, sometimes sub-interrupted, 5 to i^" inches, by 3 

 lines, coarsely brist'y ; axis subangular, hairy ; branches reduced to subsessile 

 clusters of 5 to 8 partly arrested spikelets, each of which is subtended by one 

 coarse scabrid subflexuous bristle, 3 to 5 lines long. Pedicels very short, tips 

 cupular. 



Spikelets oblong, acute or subacute, slightly curved, slightly over 1 line 

 long, straw-coloured. 



Glumes, lower ovate or almost round, obtuse or acute, less than ^- line long, 

 hyaline, 3-nerved; upper similar, ^-to f line Ions'. Florets, lower barren, equalling 

 the upper ; valve oblong, membranous, 5-nerved ; pale 0. Perfect floret oblong ; 

 valve subcoriaceous, very finely punctate, 5-nerved. Anthers over J line long. 



Ea.biia,t : Natal. Umpumulo, 2400 feet alt., Buchanan 12 ; 173 ; Zulu- 

 land, 2000 feet alt., Jenkinson 58 {Wood 7337). 



Drawn from Jenkinson's specimen and compared ^ith Buchanan's 173. 



Fig 1, Lower glums ; 2, upper glume ; 3, lower valve ; 4, upper valve ; 5, pale ; 6, pistil, 

 stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



