PLATE 490. 
Eragrostis heteromera, Stapf (Fl. Cap., Vol. TIL, p. 610). 
Nat. Order Gramineae. 
Perenniaj.. — Culms geniciilate-ascendin^i;, stout, simple, over 2 feet long, 
glabrous, smooth, 3-noded, internodes (except the lowest) exserted ; sheaths quite 
glaln-ous except at the usually bearded mouth, smooth, more or less coarsely 
striate, the lower not compressed, often purplish : ligule a dense fi inge of minute 
hairs ; blades linear, tapering to a long, tine point, 6 to 8 inches, by 1^ to '2 lines 
long, flat or more or less involute, rather soft, glabrous, smooth on the lower, 
scaberulous on tlie upper side, midrib rather stout below, primary side-nerves 4-5, 
prominent. 
Panicle oblong, nodding, 10 to 12 inches long; axis angular, striate or 
sulcate, glabrous ; branches somewhat irregularly arranged, in false whorls or 2-4- 
nate or solitary, sub-erect, flexuous to flaccid, unequal, divided from near the base 
or undivided for 1 inch or more, capillary, scaberulous, the longest 4 to 6 inches 
long; branchlets somewhat distant, short, contracted, 3-1 spiculate, very fine; 
lateral pedicels very short. 
Spikelets linear, acute, 2 to 4 lines, by f to | line, olive-green, loosely 4 to 
12-flowered ; rhachilla subpersistent, sparingly scaberulous. 
Glumes very unequal, lower a minute scale or quite suppressed, rarely over \ 
line long, upper lanceolate to oblong, subacute, ^ io 1 line long, hyaline, 1 -nerved. 
Valves obliquely oblong, obtuse, f to 1 line long, keel scabrid and prominent like 
the side nerves, rigid, almost straight ; pales equal to the valves, keels curved and 
scabrid ; anthers f to f line long. 
Hdbitdt : Natal. Near Durban, Drege, by the Umlazi River and near Maritz- 
burg ; Krauss, 43, by the Tugela River, 600 to 1,000 feet ; Buchanan, 241 ; 245a. 
Drawn from Buchanan's 241 ; 245a. 
Fig 1, upper glume ; 2, valve : 3, pale ; 4, pistil, stamen? and lodicules. All enlarged. 
