PLATE 477. 



Panicum perlaxum, Stapf. (Fl. Cap , Vol. VII., p. 400). 



Nat. Order Graininese. 



Perennial, rhizome slender. 



Cdlms suberect or ascending, very slender, 1 to 2 feet long, more or less 

 branched, 5 to many-noded, glabrous, internodes mostly exserted. 



Leaves glabrous or hairy ; sheaths thin, striate ; ligule an obscure minutely 

 ciliate rim ; blades linear to linear- lanceolate from a suddenly contracted, 

 subauriculate base, tapering to an acute point, 2 inches, by Ijto 3 lines, flat,. thin, 

 margins scabrid. 



Panicle very lax and often very scanty, erect, 5 to 8 inches long ; axis 

 filiform, smooth ; branches 3 to 5, usually solitary, remote, at length spreading, 

 the longer 3 to 6 inches long, simple, 4-1-spiculate, or remotely and sparingly 

 divided, with long 2-3-spiculate branchlets, finely filiform to capillary, flexuous, 

 smooth ; lateral pedicels |^ to 1 inch long, tips cupular. 



Spikelets oblong, acute to subacuminate, Ij to 2 lines long, greenish, 

 glabrous or pubescent, ^y^eminently nerved. 



Glumes thinly herbaceous, equal, 1 J to 2 lines long, the lower narrow, oblong, 

 acute or subacute, 7 to 5-nerved ; upper ovate-oblong, acute, very concave, 7 to 

 sub-9-nerved. Florets lower barren ; valve similar to the upper glume, but 

 slightly shorter and 5-nerved or 7-nerved near the tip, subhyaline along the 

 middle ; pale |- the length of the valve or more ; perfect floret oblong, acute or 

 subacuminate, equalling the lower or a very little shorter, yellowish ; valve 

 coriaceous, smooth, 5-nerved ; anthers f line long. 



Eabitat : Natal. Coastlands, Sutherland ; apparently more plentiful in Cape 

 Colony than in Natal. 



Drawn from a specimen which was lent for the purpose by Dr. S. Schonland, 

 F.L.S., the Director of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown, Cape Colony, as we 

 have no specimen in our Herbarium. 



Fig 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume; 3, lower valve; 4, upper valve; 5, pale; 6, 

 pistil and lodicules. All enlarged. 



