PLATE No. 419. 



Eragrostis gaxgetica, Steud. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., p. 617). 



Nat. Order Gramineffi. 



Perennial, tufted. — Culms geniculate, suberect or erect, rather stout, simple 

 ■or branching below, 1 to 3 feet long, glabrous, smooth, about 4-noded, up])er 

 internodes exserted. 



Leaves few at the base of each culm ; sheaths glabrous except at the often 

 bearded mouth, smooth, firm, tqoper tight, lowest persistent ; ligule a very minutely 

 ■ciliolate rim ; blades linear, tapering to an acute or setaceous point, 2 to 6 inches 

 by 1|- to 2 lines, flat or more often involute, rather rigid, glabrous, smooth below, 

 -densely scaberulous and whitish above. 



Panicle oblong, 2 to 6 inches long, rarely shorter or longer, generally 

 ■contracted, often nodding, or the lower branches spreading ; axis smooth below ; 

 branches solitary, rather distant, lower up to 4 inches long, more or less flexuous, 

 filiform, scaberulous, the lowest undivided for |- to 1 inch or like the rest divided 

 from near the base, their branchlets usually short and bearing shortly pedicelled 

 crowded spikelets. 



Spikelets linear-oblong to linear, up to 8 lines by 1 line, sometimes rather 

 flexuous, usually olive-grey to leaden-grey, 8 to 30-flowered ; rhachilla persistent. 



Glumes subequal, ovate-oblong, acute, up to 1 line long, 1 -nerved, deciduous. 

 Valves obliquely oblong, acute to subobtuse, ^ to 1^ line long, side-nerves slender, 

 prominent, keels scaberulous above ; pales deciduous, slightly shorter than the 

 valves, keels scabrid. Anthers f to f line long ; grain oblong, § line by ^-^5 line, 

 brown. 



HaMtSit : Natal. Near Durban, Williamson 6 1 ; moist sandy soil near 

 Pinetown, Buchanan 115 ; Umpumulo, 2000 feet alt., Buchanan 254; Clairraont 

 50 feet alt.. Wood 7262 ; and without precise locahty, Gerrard 672. 



Also in tropical Africa and throughout tropical Asia. 



In Australia this grass is said to be a valuable fodder plant, " palatable and 

 nutritious, and unaffected by drought." 



Fig 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper gliu.ie ; 3, valve ; 3a, valve in profile ; 4, pale ; 5, pistil, 

 stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



