Triraphis, E. Br. (partly). 
Spikelets 5 to 15-flowered, laterally compressed, pedicelled, panicled; rhachilla 
disarticulating above the glumes and between the valves. Florets perfect, the 
uppermost gradually I'educed. 
Glumes subequal, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acuminate or truncate, or 
minutely 2-toothed and aristulate, 1-nerved, keeled, thin. Valves oblong, 3-lobed, 
thin, 3-nerved, 3-awned, the middle lobe more or less bifid, awned from the sinus, 
the side lobes shorter, entire, asymmetric, awned from the inner side, margins 
inflexed, nerves ciliate, particularly the lateral ; awns fine, scabrid, often longer 
than the valves ; callus slender, acute, bearded. Pales linear or linear-oblong, 
somewhat shorter than the valves. Lf)dicules 2, cuneate, delicate, minute. 
Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous, styles distinct, slender ; stigmas laterally exserted, 
very slender, plumose. Grain tightly embraced by the scarcely changed valve and 
pale, linear, terete or obtusely triquetrous ; embryo short ; hilum basal, punctiform. 
Annual OR Perennial ; blades narrow, linear; ligule a ciliate membranous 
rim ; panicle contracted, spike-like, or open, much branched ; spikelets distinctly 
pedicelled. 
Species : 8 in Africa, 1 in Australia, in Natal 1 only. 
PLATE 491. 
Triraphis Rehmanni, Hack. (Fl. Cap., Vol. VII., p. 651). 
Nat. Order Graminese. 
Perennial, compactly casspitose, glabrous ; rhizome short, oblique. 
Culms erect oi' geniculate, 2 feet long, very firm, terete, striate, smooth, about 
3-noded, internodes exserted ; sheaths tight, firm, smooth, striate, the basal reddish 
or })urplish-brown, persistent, the lowest reduced to short acute bladeless scales ; 
blades linear, narrow, tapering to a setaceous point, usually tightly convolute, 4 to 
8 inches, by 1 to ih line (when expanded), firm, smooth, coarsely striate. 
Panicle 2 to 12 inches long, contracted or open, and then 2 to 4 inches broad, 
erect or slightly nodding ; rhachis smooth, branches solitary or fascicled, closely or 
loosely branched from tlie base or almost so, smooth, filiform, straight or flexuous ; 
pedicels ^ to line long. 
Spikelets subsecund, crowded, 4 to 8-flowered, 3 to 5 lines long; rhachilla 
glabrous. 
Glumes linear-oblong, erose, minutely mucronate, the lower 1 to 2 lines, the 
ujyper \^ to 2\ lines long, often with a fine lateral nerve on one or both sides. 
Valves oblong (when expanded), not quite 2 lines long ; awns stiff', middle awn ^ 
to \^ line long, side-awns up to 1 line long, or mere mucros ; pale glabrous or the 
fiaps hairy, keels scaberulous ; anthers f line long ; grain linear, terete, § line, by 
^ line. 
Habitat : Natal. Near Dundee, 4000 feet, W. E. Green 95b {Wood 7452), 
March. 
Fifj 1, Spikelet : 2, glume; o. valve: 4. ])ale ; 5, pistil, stamens and lodicules. All 
c'lilurjjed. 
