PLATE 469. 
DiOITAKIA DEBILIS, Willd. (Fl. Cap., A^ol. YIL, p. 377). 
Nat. Order Graminea?. 
Annual. — Cul:\is ascending from a geniculate base, scantily branched below, 1 
to 2 feet long, glabrous, o or more noded, upper node by far the longest. 
Lkaa'Es glabrous or liairy ; sheaths rather thin, striate ; ligules rounded, 1|- to 
2 lines long ; blades linear from a subcordate base, tapering to a fine point, 3 to 5 
inches by 1^ to 2^ lines, flat, flaccid, margins scabrid. Kacemes 3 to 10, suljdigitate 
or on a scabrid angular connnon axis (1 to "2 inches long), singly or the lower sub- 
verticillate, erect or s])reading, very slender, strict, 4 to (S inches long ; rhachis 
filiform, angular, very scabrid, internodes up to 2 lines long ; pedicels 2-nate, one 
very short, the other up to f line long, fine, angular scabrid. 
SriKELKTS lanceolate, about Ih line long. 
Glumes, lo/rer very minute, rounded, hyaline, upper hneardanceolate, long 
acuminate, exceeding the lower valve by j, strongly 7-ner\'ed, finely and adpressedly 
silky between the outer nerves and along the margins, v'alves, loii-er oblong, shortly 
acuminate, ratlier over 1 line long, strongly 7 -nerved, finely and adpressedly silky 
between the outer nerves and al<~>ng the margins ; upper subchartaceous, slightly 
shorter than tlie loAver, pale. Antliers f line long ; grain ^ line long. 
Hdbitclt : Xatal. Umjnunulo, ]]/icIia/ia/i 2i)2 ; and without precise locality, 
Gerrard 693. 
Also in tro])ical Africa, Madagascar, arid the Mediterranean countries, from 
Algeria and South Italy to Portugal. 
Drawn from (lerrard's ()!)3, kindly lent for the purpose by the Director of the 
Ikoyal (jardens and Herbarium at Kew. 
Fig 1, Upper li'lmne ; 2, jo^vei' valvo ; 3, upper valve; 4, pale ; 5, ])istil, stamens 
?i.iid lodiciiles. All rnliirijcd. 
