PLATE 420. 



Eragrostis major, Host. (Fl. Cai)., Vol. VII. , p. 620). 



Nat. Order Gramineaj. 



Annual, tufted. — Culms geniculate-ascending or sub-erect, usually stout and 

 branched below, |- to 2 feet long, glabrous, smooth, 3 to 4-noded, internodes more 

 or less exserted ; sheaths loose, strongly striate, keeled in the upper part, often 

 glandular, particularly on the keel and the nerves above, glabrous or scantily hairy, 

 bearded ; ligule a fringe of short hairs ; blades linear or lanceolate-linear, long 

 tapering to a fine point, 2 to 6 inches by 1|- to 4 lines, flat, more or less flaccid, 

 light green or subglaucous, glabrous or very scantily hairy, smooth below, 

 scaberulous above, usually glandular along the margins. 



Panicle oblong to ovate-oblong, stiff", 2 to more than 6 inches long, dense or 

 rather lax ; axis terete, smooth ; branches sub-solitavy spreading, stiff' or ffexuous. 

 lowest up to 3J inches long or all short, branched from near the base ; lateral 

 pedicels ^ to 1^ line long, all the divisions filiform, angular, scabrid. 



Spikelets linear to ovate-oblong, 2 to 6 lines long, by 1 to almost 2 lines, 

 subflexuous if very long, light or dark olive-green, few to 50-flowered ; rhachilla 

 persistent. 



Glumes subequal, ovate oblong, subobtuse to acute, f or almost 1 line long, 

 I- (or the upper 3-) nerved, keels scabrid, margins minutely serrulate. Valves 

 broadly and obliquely ovate in profile, obtuse or subobtuse, 1 to 1|- line long, side- 

 nerves prominent, strong Pales persistent, somewhat shorter than the valves, 

 broad, keels scabrid or ciliolate. Anthers oblong, about ]^ to j line long ; grain 

 globose, brown, loose within the turgid valves, J to |- line in diameter. 



Habitat: Natal. By the Tugela Eiver, 600 to 1000 feet alt., Buchanan 

 253 ; without precise locality, Ge'irard 472. 



Probably introduced. A native of the Mediterranean regions and India. 



Drawn from Buchanan's 253, the only specimen in the Herbarium. 



Fig 1, Lower gkime ; 2, upper glume ; 3, valve in profile ; 4, pale ; o, pistil, stamens and 

 lodicules. All enlarged. 



