PLATE 497. 
. Agrostis suavis, Sta|>f. (Kew Bulletin, 1908, ined). 
Kat. Order (^niniiiiece. 
Perennial, laxlj ca?spitosc, innovation shoots extraA'aginal, suddenly ascending 
or stoloniferous. 
Culms erect about 2 feet long to base of panicle, 8 to o-noded, glabrous, simple, 
internodes exserted, ])roduced before floT\'ering to o to 5 inches Ijcyond the 
mouth of the sheath. Sheaths very lax above, glal)rous. smooth, tlic lowest purple, 
ligules hvaline, oblong, 2^ lines long ; blades narrow-linear, shortlv acute, plaited in 
dried specimens, up to 6 inches long (upper ones 14 to 1<S lines long), spreading to 1 
line wide, very green, glabrous, scaberulous towards the apex, very narrowly sulcate 
on the face to near the middle between the jirimary nerves, primary nerves on each 
side usually 4. 
Panicle divaricate, lax, obovate or ()l)long. more than 1 1 inches long, 6 to 8 
inches wide, foirer branches semi\erticillate, 4-5-nate. ujijier 2-nate, mcistly undivided 
for 10 to 14 lines (some for 2^ inches) then twice or three times or four times divided 
into branchlets, the longer 4| inches long, filiform, smooth below, scaberulous above, 
petlicels ca])illar\', terminal up t(t I) lines long, lateral ones line long. 
Si'IKElets 2 to 2^ lines long, sti-aw often suffused witli ]iurple. lihachilla 
reduced to a fascicle of hairs scarcely ^ line long. 
Gllmes equal, lanceolate, acute, 1 -nerved, scarious. \ ah es seen from the side 
narrowh' lanceolate, ovate lanceolate when exp.in(le<l, \^ line long, shortlv bifid, 
o-nerved, lateral nerves excurrent in nuicros, laxh' clothed with hue hairs on the back, 
awn setiform, straight, inserted a little below the middle : ])ales hvaline, 2-nerved, 
truncate, a little shorter than the valves, glabrous. Anthers not seen, grain linear- 
oblong, f line long. 
Habitat: XaTAL. Van Peenen. :).")()() feet alt.. Janiiaiw. W(m>(I S91o. 
Dr. Stapf savs of this grass : — Closelv related to A. crirodJid, Hack., ljut dis- 
tinguished by the di\aricate effuse ])anicle. distant fi'oin the toj) of the leaf, Avith 
4-o-nate semiverticillate branches."" He also sa\ s : — "'l^his differs from A. o-iantha, 
Hack., a native of the Pransvaal, solely in the form of the panicle. Mature specimens 
of A. eriantJid. connnunicated ))y ^lessrs. Sutton. ha\c the same narrow contracted 
panicle as Schlechter's younger flowering ty])e sam])les. and the branches of their 
panicles are throughout geminate. On the other hand, all of Wood's specimens at 
Kew (4 sheets) exhibit the form described above." 
Fig 1, Floret ; 2, oliime ; 3, valve, iiuier view: 4, same in profile ; 5, pale : 6, pistil and 
lodicules, AH enlanjed. 
