SUDAN GRASS AND RELATED PLANTS. 9 
this grass bears the vernacular name ‘“‘capim de boi,’’ which means 
grass of the ox or cattle. Kamerun grass is undoubtedly a native 
of the Kongo and Guinea coast regions of Africa, where numerous 
travelers have found it growing wild, usually along watercourses. 
It was no doubt introduced into Brazil by the slave trade and by the 
same agency into Cuba, another place where it is now found. 
Besides the importations obtained by P. H. Dorsett, of the Office 
of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, several other collectors, in- 
cluding Burchell, 
Blanchet, and Gard- 
ner, found Kamerun 
grass in Brazil (18). 
The Kew and Berlin 
herbaria contain 
specimens from the 
islands of St. Thomas 
and Fernando Po, 
from Kamerun, the 
Spanish Guinea Hin- 
terland, Togo, and 
Boma on the Kongo 
River and Nupe on 
the Niger River. 
Most of the speci- 
mens, it will be 
noted, are from the 
Guinea coast region, 
but Shantz®> found 
Kamerun grass in 
abundance along the 
Lualaba River and in 
other parts of east- 
ern Belgian IRONS O02 tiinrerG “rcamioren grass, S. P. I. No. 38005. Planted April 22. Pho- 
It would therefore tographed October19. Plants ripening at a height of 7feet. Chula 
‘ Vista, Calif., 1916. 
seem to be widely 
distributed in the interior of equatorial Africa, as well as along the 
Guinea coast. 
Under cultivation in the United States, Kamerun grass reaches a 
height of 6 to 9 feet, with erect stems somewhat larger than a lead 
pencil; narrow, rather harsh leaves with thick midribs; and a large, 
loose, drooping panicle. (Fig. 6.) The individual spikelet is about 
the same shape as that of Sudan grass, but smaller and pubescent, 
5 Dr. H. L. Shantz, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, spent 
about 14 months, from July, 1919, to September, 1920, on a collecting trip in eastern Africa for the Office of 
Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 
93321°—21—Bull, 981——2 
