PLATE 438. 



CiiLOEis PKTK.EA, Thuiib. (FJ. Cap., Vol. YIL, p. 643). 

 Xat. Order Gramiueai. 



Pkrexmal, deii.scly tufted. — Culji.s erect, or suberect, 1 to :i feet long, 2-noded, 

 conqjressed below, glabrous, smooth, iuteniode.s long-exserted. 



Leaves crowded at the base in a fan-like manner ; sheaths strongly compressed, 

 keeled, glabrous, smooth, except on the scabrid keels ; ligule a ciliate rim ; blades 

 linear, acute or subobtuse, 2 to 8 inches by |^ to 3 lines "v\;hen expanded, usuall}' 

 folded, glabrous, glaucous, smooth. Spikes 3 to 8, sessile, 2 to 4 inches long, sub- 

 erect, brown, straight or gently curved ; rhachis pubescent at the base, scabrid. 



Si'iKKi.ETis about 1 line long, 2-flowered ; rhachilla joint between the ^•alves A'ery 

 sliort, terminal joint a bristle half as long as the uj^per \'alve or longer. 



OiA'MES, loiim^ oblong, subobtuse, not quite f Une long, compressed, npjyer 

 broadly oblong, shorth* and obtusely 2-lobed, about 1 line long, rounded or flat on 

 the back, scaberulous, mucronate. A'ah'es, lower obliquely ovate-oblong in profile, 

 very obtuse, emarginate, curved-mucronate, ciliate along the side-nerves (except 

 towards tlie base) and along the keel slightly beyond the middle, broAvn, A\'ith an 

 elliptic-oblong subacute pale ; anthers | line long ; upioer valve obliquely cuneate in 

 profile, f to 1 line long, glabrous, faintly nerved, with a delicate nerveless pale, and 



subtending a male flower 



E&hitat : Natal. Umpumulo, Buchanan 189 ; Pietermaritzburg, 1000-2000 

 feet alt.. Wood 7234. Drawn from Wood's 7234. 



Fig 1, 8pikelet ; 2, lower glume ; 3, upper glume; 4, valve ; 5, pale ; 6, pistil, stamens 

 and lodicules ; 7, 2nd valve ; 8, pale ; 9, male floret. All enlarged. 



