Panicum stagninum, Koeiiig. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VIL, p. 394). 



Nat. Order Graniineae. 



Annual or Perennial. — Culms erect from a geniculate or prostrate base, 

 terete or subterete, up to 6 feet high, in tall specimens to more than 3 lines thick 

 below, often rooting from the lower nodes, sheathed all along or some of the nodes 

 at length exserted, often branched in the lower part ; sheaths finely striate, smooth, 

 terete or subcarinate above, quite glabrous, rarely pubescent at the lowest nodes ; 

 ligule a fringe of rather long stiff hairs, or sometimes in the uppermost leaves ; 

 blades linear from a scarcely narrowed usually not decurrent base, long-tapering 

 to a fine point, ^ to more than 1|- foot by 2^ to 7 lines, flat, rigid or flaccid, 

 glabrous, light green or. glaucous, smooth above, scabrid below, particularly in the 

 upper part, margins cartilaginous, scabrid to spinulous. 



Panicle erect or nodding, 4 to 10 inches long, secund ; axis slender, more or 

 less flexuous, convex or flat on the back, usually hispidulous with scattered bristles, 

 rarely glabrous except on the scabrid angles ; branches few to many, distant or 

 rather crowded, alternate, suberect or nodding, 1 to 2 inches long, forming often 

 stout dense 2-4-ranked simple secund sessile false spikes ; rhachis like the axis, 

 but more slender ; pedicels 4-2-nate, extremely short, tips discoid. 



Spikelets crowded, ovate-oblong to lanceolate-ovate, 2-3 lines long, rarely 

 less, pallid, hispid. 



Glumes, lower ovate, thin, acuminate or mucronate, about half the length of 

 the spikelet, 3 to sub-5-nerved ; upper oblong, thin, equalling the spikelet, concave, 

 cordate-acuminate or produced into a short, scabrid compressed awn, 5-nerved or 

 7-nerved at the tips, pubescent between the hispidulous nerves. Florets, lower 

 male or sometimes barren ; valve similar to the upper glume, but flat or depressed 

 on the back, subhyaline except the herbaceous sides, awn 2 to 12 lines long; pale 

 oblong, keels scabrid. Anthers when present 1 line long ; perfect floret oblong to 

 lanceolate-oblong, mucronate-acurainate, 1 J to 2^ lines long, excluding the scabrid 

 mucro, straw-coloured, smooth, shining ; valve 5-nerved. 



Habitat : Natal. Near Newcastle, 3000-4000 feet, March, W. Sutherland 

 {Wood 10,007). 



" Through Tropical Africa, from the Senegal to Abyssinia, in Madagascar and 

 India." 



Drawn from the specimen collected by W. Sutherland, the only one in the 

 Colonial Herbarium. * 



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

 valye ; 7, pale ; 8, pistil, stamens and lodicules. All enlarged. 



