Eragrostis] XXVIII, GRAMINEA, 243: 
leaves continuous with the sheath, very narrow linear, tapering 
to a setiform apex, scabridulous, convolute; panicle large, ovoid, 
rhachis elongated bearing long, solitary, ascendo-patent distant 
branches, secondary branches short, appressed to the primary and 
bearing 2 to 5 shortly stalked spikelets ; spikelets narrowly linear- 
oblong or lanceolate-oblong, dull olive-green, 5- to 7-flowered ; 
barren glumes unequal, the lower bluntly ovate, enerved, or 
1-nerved with a faint scabridulous keel, the upper ovate-lanceolate, 
subacute, strongly 1-nerved with the keel scabridulous above the 
base ; fertile glumes broadly bluntly ovate, with a strong median 
and 2 sometimes imperfect curving lateral nerves which never 
reach the apex; pale slightly shorter, broad, with strong keels 
scabridulous except at the base ; anthers red-brown ; grain reddish ; 
narrowly ellipsoidal with well-marked hilum. 
Culms exceeding 4 ft. in length; leaves reaching 14 in. in 
length, width not exceeding 1} line at the base. Panicle 13 
to 14 in. long by 4 to 5 in. across, branches spreading at an 
angle of 30° to 45°, the lower 5 in. long becoming shorter 
upwards, lowest internode 13 to 2 in., lowest secondary branch 
generally about 1 in. from the base of the primary, and # to 1 in. 
long, the upper shorter. Spikeletsabout + in. long ; lower barren 
gl. + to 2 line, upper 1 line long; fertile gl. 1 to little over 
1 line; anthers a little over 3 line; grain a good line. 
A striking species characterised by the large panicle with long 
strict distant spreading branches, and appressed branchlets, the 
markedly unequal barren glumes of the spikelets, and the 
elongated slender almost setiform leaves. 
Houi1ia.—Rather rare on the herb-grown banks of streams in the 
Lopollo district ; April 1860. No. 2672. On grassy banks of streams 
between Lopollo and Humpata ; May 1860. No. 2627. 
21. E. aireformis Rendle sp. nov. 
Perennial with a strong, very hard, creeping rhizome, bearing a 
dense terminal tuft of barren leaf-shoots and a tall erect culm ; 
root-fibres stout, tough; culm-internodes 6, the lowest very short 
(2 in.) and the next enveloped by the loose papery glabrous leaf- 
sheaths, the upper half as long again or twice as long as the 
glabrous sheath, nodes glabrous, scarcely well-marked ; ligule very 
short, densely hairy; leaves rigidulous, narrow linear-tapering, 
convolute, glabrous, scabridulous, apex setiform ; panicle ovoid, 
branches slender, verticillate or subverticillate, sometimes solitary, 
weakly ascending, lateral branches filiform, short, subappressed 
bearing 4 or fewer, shortly stalked, dirty greenish-brown, sub- 
compressed, scarcely compact, linear, generally 6- to 8-flowered 
spikelets; barren glumes subscarious, pale, rather narrowly ovate, 
blunt, 1-nerved, the narrow keel scabridulous above the base, the 
lower about 1 shorter than the upper ; rhachilla tough ; fertile 
glumes with a pale brownish scarious tip, ovate, blunt, 3-nerved, 
lateral nerves curved and falling short of the apex, midrib 
minutely scabridulous above the middle; pale broad, slightly 
