Sporobolus, E. Br. 



Spikelets usually very small, variously panicled, continuous on the pedicels ; 

 rhachilla more or less readily disarticulating above the glumes, not continued, or 

 very rarely produced into a 'bristle. Floret 1, perfect. 



Glumes 2, delicately membranous, lotver usually smaller, nerve'ess, tipper 

 1 -nerved, falling away one after the other. Valve more or less resembling the 

 upper glume, 1 -nerved or more or less distinctly 3-nerved. Pale usually almost as 

 long as the valve, 2-nerved, fplded between the nerves, often, split by tlie maturing 

 grain. Lodicules 2, small, broadly cuneate, glabrous, thin. Stamens 3, rarely 

 2. Ovary glabrous ; styles short, distinct, terminal ; stigmas plumose or subasper- 

 gilliform. Grain free, falling out or retained and dehiscing ; pericarp thin, usually 

 swelling in water, rigid, dehiscing, or the inner layers mucilaginous when wetted, 

 and adherent, or the whole pericarp adnate and indistinct ; hilum small, punctiform, 

 basal, embryo rather large. 



Annuals or Perennials of various habits ; ligules reduced to a ciliate or 

 ciliolate rim. 



Panicles contracted to spike-like, or more or less open, sometimes extremely 

 lax ; spikelets mostly J to i line long. 



PLATE 405. 



Sporobolus eestivus, Hochst. var stuppeus, Stapf (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., p. 582). 



Nat. Order Gramineas. 



Perennial, compactly tufted. — Culms erect or geniculate-ascending, slender, 

 ^ to 1 foot long, glabrous, smooth, 2 or 3-noded ; upper sheaths glabrous except at 

 the ciliate margins, smooth, the lower short, firm, at length breaking up into 

 numerous persistent fibres, about ^ inch long, the inner covered with pallid tow-like 

 hairs ; ligules a minutely ciliolate or almost woolly rim ; blades narrowly linear, 

 tapering to an acute point, usually setaceously convolute, 1-2 inches long, rarely 

 more, by 1 line (when expanded), glabrous, smooth. 



Panicle oblong to ovate, erect, 2 to 4 mches, by 1 to 1 J inch, lax ; rhachis 

 straight ; branches solitary or irregularly fascicled, at length spreading, filiform to 

 capillary, repeatedly branched from near the base ; secondary branchlets flexuous, 

 capillary ; pedicels extremely fine, smooth, 2 to 3 times the length of the spikelets, 

 rarely longer. 



Spikelets oblong, rather obtuse, purplish, f line long or rather less. 



Glumes hyaline, acute or acuminate, minutely denticulate, the lower oblong, 

 nerveless, almost half the length of the spikelet, the vpper ovate, nerveless or 

 faintly 1 -nerved, about half the length of the spikelet. Valve oblong, obtuse or 

 subacute in profile, 1 to sub-3-nerved. Pale slightly shorter. Stamens 3 ; anthers 

 |- line long ; grain globose- ellipsoid, ^ line long, pericarp swelling and bursting in 

 water ; seed free, compressed, obtusely quadrangular ; albumen glassy. 



Habitat : Natal. Umsinga and base of Biggarsberg, Buchanan 96 ; near 

 Maritzburg, St. George, 25 {Wood 7236). 



Drawn from Wood's 7236, the only specimen in the Herbarium. No stameiis 

 could be found in the specimen drawn from. 



Fig 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume ; 3, valve ; 4, pale ; 5, pistil and lodicules. All 

 enlarged. 



