442 
CLVII. GRAMINE^ (Stapf). 
[. Digitaria . 
scattered or pseudo-verticillate, slender, straight or slightly curved, 
6-8 in. long, greenish ; rhachis slender, straight, triquetrous, lin. 
wide, lateral angles narrowly winged, very rough, herbaceous, wings 
usually narrower than the dorsally flattened midrib, internodes 
about 1 lin. long ; pedicels 2-nate, very unequal, filiform, angular, 
scaberulous, the longer 1 lin. long. Spikelets linear -lanceolate, 
acutely acuminate, with the slender acumen often curved, 1J-1J 
lin. by § lin., glabrous or ciliate, straw-coloured. Lower glume a 
membranous ovate scale, about | lin. long ; upper lanceolate, acute, 
about J lin. long, thin, faintly 3-nerved with appressed short fine 
hairs between the nerves and along the margins. Lower floret : 
valve corresponding in outline and size to the spikelet, firmly char- 
taceous, 7-nerved and scabrid on the nerves, at least upwards, 
glabrous or with fine short appressed hairs, rarely with longer and 
ultimately loose ones along the margin, with or without yellowish 
tubercle-based bristles up to over \ lin. long which ultimately become 
spreading from the narrow spape between the inner pair of side 
nerves, hairs very thin- walled with obtuse or subacute tips ; valvule 
and lodicules very minute. Upper floret slightly shorter than the 
spikelet, linear-lanceolate, acutely acuminate, thinly and rather 
rigidly chartaceous, slightly darkening on maturity. Anthers about 
§ lin. long. Grain linear-oblong, ~ lin. by ^ lin., plano-convex, 
whitish ; scutellum equalling about of the grain. — Digitaria sangui- 
nalis, var. subacuminata , Stapf (name onlv) ex Cheval. Sudania 
33, 34. 
Upper Guinea. French Sudan : San, Chevalier, 2218 ! between Goudam 
and Faginbing, Chevalier, 2284 ! Northern Nigeria : Abinsi, a cCmmcn vvetd, 
Dalziel, 907 ! 
Used as a fodder according to Dalziel. 
11. D. monodactyla, Stapf, var. explicata. Stapf. Perennial, 
compactly or loosely tufted with intravaginal innovations. Culms 
very slender, erect, from 1 to over 2 ft. high, 1-2-noded, simple, 
glabrous. Leaves crowded at the base ; sheaths tight, rather firm, 
more or less finely and appressedly hirsute, the lower long-persistent, 
their bases forming a dense ultimately often fibrous coating ; ligules 
reduced to a transverse membranous rim ; blades of the basal leaves 
very narrowly linear, 2 to over 6 in. long, at first convolute, then 
temporarily or permanently flat and up to over 1 lin. wide, rather 
rigid or more or less flexuous, firm, glabrous or sparingly appressedly 
hairy, the hairs often springing from flat tubercles, midrib and primary 
lateral nerves (3-4 on each side) prominent above, forming slender 
ribs with smooth bands of highly developed motor cells between them ; 
blade of the uppermost culm-leaf subsetaceous, rarely over 2 in. 
long. Raceme spike-like, solitary, terminal on the long-exserted 
culm, very slender, 2-6 in. long, yellowish-green, rather rigid ; 
rhachis wavy, \ lin. wide, triquetrous with narrow green herbaceous 
