478 cl vii. GRAMiNEiE (Stapf). [ Digitaria . 
a spiciform panicle which is 4-5 in. long, on a greyish silky common 
axis (1-3 in. long) and more or less appressed to it, solitary or 2-3-nate 
and then mostly unequal, the longer rarely much over 1 in. long, 
silky; primary rhachis slender, subtriquetrous, about j-J lin. wide, 
lateral angles very scabrid and ciliate, narrowly marginate, secondary 
similar but still narrower and more filiform ; pedicels and short 
tertiary rhachises if present forming dense fascicles of up to 15 spike- 
lets, of unequal length, the longest pedicels rarely over 1 lin. long, but 
mostly much shorter, angular, scabrid and bearing upwards fine soft 
whitish hairs slightly exceeding the spikelets. Spikelets oblong, acute, 
1 lin. by § lin., very convex on the back, glabrous, greyish or brownish- 
green on the flat side, dark chestnut- to blackish-brown and shining 
on the convex side. Lower glume suppressed ; upper a hyaline trun- 
cate crenulate or lobulate whitish nerveless scale tightly appressed 
to the base of the spikelet, lin. long. Lower floret : valve 
oblong, obtuse or subobtuse, almost equalling the spikelet, mem- 
brauous, whitish, 3- to sub-5-nerved ; valvule and lodicules very 
minute. Upper floret corresponding to the spikelet in outline and size : 
valve subcoriaceous except the contiguous or slightly overlapping 
margins, closely and finely striate. Anthers ^ lin. long, purple. 
Mozambique Distr. German East Africa : Kyimbila ; in mountain meadows 
near Rulongwe, 0900 ft., Stolz, 2619 ! 
46. D. intecta, Stapf. Annual, up to.3 ft. high. Culms somewhat 
slender, erect or geniculate at the base, solitary, simple or with a 
branch from one of the lower nodes, up to 5-noded, glabrous, upper- 
most internode by far the longest. Leaf -sheaths rather loose, 
striate, more or less beset with stiff tubercle-based hairs (particularly 
upwards) to glabrous, frequently bearded at the upper nodes ; ligules 
short, up to 1 lin. long, scarious, truncate, glabrous ; blades linear 
from an equally wide base, up to 1 ft. by 3 lin., flat, flaccid, green, 
glabrous or sparingly hairy (near the base), rough on the upper 
side and the margins, midrib whitish, prominent on the back, flat 
and widened towards the base on the face, primary lateral nerves 
about 3-4 on each side, fine. Kacemes 8-20 gathered into a sub- 
fastigiate panicle 5-8 in. long, sessile, on a. slender upwards angular 
and rough common axis of varying length (1-3 in.), very slender, 
in scanty fascicles or false whorls or solitary, the lowest sometimes 
subcomposite, about 4 in. long, slightly flexuous to almost straight, 
father loose at least upwards ; rhachis very slender, slightly wavy 
or straight, triquetrous, |-J lin. wide, lateral angles narrowly margin- 
ate, very scabrid, internodes up to over 1 lin. long; pedicels 4-2-nate, 
unequal, the longest up to 1 lin. long, angular, very scabrid with 
fine white setse from near the tips, as long as the spikelets or slightly 
longer. Spikelets elliptic- oblong, acute, jL-JL lin. long, pale to deep 
chestnut-brown, shining. Lower and upper glume quite suppressed. 
Lower floret reduced to a rotundate hyaline 1 -nerved scale, f-J lin. 
