10 BULLETIN 981, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
whereas that of Sudan grass is nearly glabrous. The seed shatters 
easily, but not so readily as seed of Tunis grass or tabucki grass. A 
study of Kamerun grass in row plantings at various field stations 
has indicated that it can not compete successfully with Sudan grass 
in the United States. It may have some value, however, for cross- 
ing with Sudan grass or the sorghums. 
TABUCKI GRASS. 
Seed of tabucki grass (Andropogon sorghum verticilliflorus (Steudel) 
Piper) was obtained as S. P. I. No. 38866 from I. B. Pole Evans, 
Pretoria, South Africa, in 1915. It is a variable grass which appears 
indigenous to southeastern Africa from Mount Kilimanjaro to the 
Cape. Numerous specimens are also recorded from adjacent islands 
in the Indian Ocean. 
Later importations of tabucki grass were received as follows: 
S. P. I. No. 39377, from H. G. Mundy, Department of Agriculture, 
Salisbury, southern Rhodesia, November 9, 1914 (the seed of this lot - 
was immature and none of it germinated); S. P. IL. No. 40773, from 
P. R. Dupont, curator of the Botanic Gardens, Seychelles Islands, 
May 19, 1915;.S. P. I. No. 40832, from I. B. Pole Evans, Department 
of Agriculture, Pretoria, South Africa, June 7, 1915 (the seed of this 
lot was collected at Tzaneen in northern Transvaal); and S. P. I. 
No. 40897, from F. A. Stockdale, Director of Agriculture, Reduit, 
Mauritius, July 6, 1915. The seeds from Mauritius produced plants 
which resembled toura more than they did tabucki grass. 
Under cultivation in the United States tabucki grass resembles 
Kamerun grass very closely. The stems are erect or slightly spread- 
ing, 6 to 9 feet high, somewhat larger than a lead pencil, with 9 or 10 
leaves which are rather narrow and harsh. The panicle is large and 
spreading, like that of Kamerun grass, but the spikelets are a little 
smaller, more turgid at the base, and shatter from the stem almost 
as freely as the seed of Tunis grass. 
Another form of Andropogon sorghum verticilifiorus is the toura, 
of Tahiti. A small sample of this was obtained by the United States 
Department of Agriculture in 1903 from William F. Doty, United 
States consul, Taniti, Society Islands, but it was identified as Johnson 
grass (Andropogon halepensis), and no attempt apparently was made 
to test the seed at that time. Later, when trials of Sudan grass had 
indicated the possible differences which might exist in these so-called 
halepensis forms, the seed was brought out and tested. These tests 
showed that it was not halepensis, being entirely without rootstocks. 
The description of tabucki grass answers for toura except that towa 
is somewhat earlier and smaller than tabucki grass and the stems 
ascend at a trifle wider angle. (Fig. 7.) 
