PLATE 432. 



MiCROCHLOA ALTERA, Stapf, var. Nelsonii, Stapf. (FI. Cap., Vol. VII. p. 637). 



Nat. Order Graminefe. 



Perennial, densely cfespltose. — Culms erect, very slender, simple, 8 to 10 

 inches long, compressed below, 2-noded, glabrous or woolly, upper 2 internodes 

 very long, exserted. 



Leaves mainly crowded at the base ; sheaths tight or scantily woolly, the 

 basal compressed, keeled, very narrow, persistent, at length breaking up into 

 fibres ;. blades setaceous, folded, acute, scarcely distinct from the sheaths, 3 to 6 

 inches long, glabrous, smooth. Spike solitary, | to 1 inch long, usually straight ; 

 rhachis glabrous. 



Spikelets 2-flowered, dorsally and obliquely compressed, uniseriate or biseriate, 

 2\ lines long, glabrous, brown. 



Glumes lanceolate-oblong, obtuse, the lower slightly longer and asymmetric, 

 the upper firmer. Florets, lower hermaphrodite ; valve minutely bilobed, 1 J line 

 long, ciliate along the nerves ; pale glabrous, keels very finely scabrid above ; 

 upper floret barren, slightly smaller ; valve and pale glabrous, more delicate, the 

 latter often reduced or quite suppressed. Grain 1 line long. 



Habitant: Natal. Riet Vlei, 4000-5000 feet alt., Buchanan 163; Zululand, 

 2000 to 3000 feet alt.. Wood 7304 {Jenllmon 44). 



Fig 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume ; 3, valve of lower floret ; 4, pale of same ; 5, valve 

 of upper floret ; 6, pale of .same ; 7, pistil, stamens and lodicules. All enlan/fd. 



