Sporobolus, R. Br. 
Spikelets usually very small, variously panicled, continuous on the })edicels ; 
rhachilla more or less readily disarticulating above the glumes, not continued, or 
very rarely produced into a bristle. Floret 1, perfect. 
Glumes 2, delicately membranous, lower usually smaller, nerve'ess, upper 
1 -nerved, falling away one after the other. Valve more or less resembling the 
upper glume, 1 -nerved or more or less distinctly 3-nerved. Pale usually almost as 
long as the valve, 2-nerved, folded between the nerves, often split by the maturing 
grain. Lodicules 2, small, broadly cuneate, glabrous, thin. Stamens 3, rarely 
2. Ovary glabrous ; styles short, distinct, terminal ; stigmas plumose or subasper- 
gilliform. Grain free, falling out or retained and dehiscing ; pericarp thin, usually 
swelling in water, rigid, dehiscing, or the inner layers mucilaginous when wetted, 
and adherent, or the whole pericarp adnate and indistinct ; hilum small, punctiform, 
basal, embryo rather large. 
Annuals or Perennials of various habits ; ligules reduced to a ciliate or 
ciliolate rim. 
Panicles contracted to spike-like, or more or less open, sometimes extremely 
lax ; spikelets mostly ^ to 1 line long. 
PLATE 405. 
Sporobolus festivus, Hochst. var stuppeus, Stapf (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., \). 582). 
Nat. Order Graminea?. 
Perennial, compactly tufted. — C-ulms erect or geniculate-ascending, slender, 
^ to 1 foot long, glabrous, smooth, 2 or 3-noded ; upper sheaths glabrous except at 
the ciliate margins, smooth, the lower short, firm, at length breaking up into 
numerous persistent fibres, about |- inch long, the inner covered with pallid tow-like 
hairs ; ligules a minutely ciliolate or almost woolly rim ; blades narrf)wly linear, 
tapering to an acute point, usually setaceously convolute, 1-2 inches long, rarely 
more, by 1 line (when expanded), glabrous, smooth. 
Panicle oblong to ovate, erect, 2 to 4 niches, by 1 to inch, lax : rhachis 
straight ; branches solitary or irregularly fascicled, at length spreading, filiform to 
capillary, repeatedly branched from near the base ; secondary branchlets flexuous, 
capillary ; pedicels extremely fine, smooth, 2 to 3 times the length of the spikelets, 
rarely longer. 
Spikelets oblong, rather obtuse, purplish, | line long or rather less. 
Glumes hyaline, acute or acuminate, minutely denticulate, the lower oblong, 
nerveless, almost half the length of the spikelet, the uprper ovate, nerveless or 
faintly 1 -nerved, about half the length of the spikelet. Valve ol)long, obtuse or 
subacute in profile, 1 to sub-3-nerved. Pale slightly shorter. Stamens 3 ; anthers 
f line long ; grain globose- ellipsoid, \ line long, pericarp swelling and bursting in 
water ; seed free, compressed, obtusely quadrangular ; albumen glassy. 
EdbitSit : Natal. Umsinga and base of Biggarsberg, Buchanan, 96 ; near 
Maritzburg, St. Georije, 25 {AVood 7236). 
Drawn from Wood's 7236, the only specimen in the Herbarium. No stamens 
could be found in the specimen drawn from. 
Fig- 1, Lower glume ; 2, upper glume ; .3, valve ; 4, pale ; 5, pistil and lodicules. All 
enlarijed. 
