485 
Alloteropsis.] clvii. gramine.® (Stapf). 
Urochloa semialata, Kunth, Rev. Gram. i. 31, and Enum. i. 74. Oplis- 
menus semialatus, Desv. Opusc. 81. Coridochloa semialata , Nees in 
Edinb. New Phil. Journ. xv. 381. Air a viatica , Griff. Not. iff. 54. 
Holosetum philippicum, Steud. l.c. 118. Arundinella Sckultzii, 
Benth. El. Austr. vii. 545. 
Upper Guinea. French Guinea : between Mamou and Kindia Rivers, 
Chevalier, 13580 ! Timbo, Pobeguin, 1833 ! 
Nile Land. Abyssinia : Gallabat ; on the banks of the River Gendua, 
Schweinfurth, 1079 ! British East Africa : near Uyui, Taylor ! 
Lower Guinea. Angola : Benguela ; without precise locality, Gossweiler , 
2070 ! Huilla ; in damp pastures on Empalanca plain, Welwitsck, 2668 ! 
C'ri&jzjz,') 
- Var. EclcloniL Stapf. Usually more robust than the type. Leaf-blades 
narrow, or up tc> 4 lin. broad and at the same time short (3-5 in.). Racemes 
stout, mostly very dense from the base. Spikelets often slightly longer (up to 
3 1 lin.), plumper, dark brownish-purple or blackish-purple all over or with a 
pale first glume ; lower valve usually with alternately darker and lighter 
transverse bands. — Bluffia, eclcloniana, Nees in Lehm. Ind. Sem. Hort. Hand), 
1835, and in Lindl. Nat. Syst. Bot. ed. ii. 447 ; Nees, FI. Afr. Austr. 61. Panicum 
semiala, turn, var. ecldonianum, Hack, ex Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Air. 
v. 764. Axonopus semialatus, Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 184 ; A. semialatus , 
var. Ecklonii, Stapf in Dyer, FI. Cap. vii. 418 ; Rendle in Journ, Linn. Soc. Bot. 
xl. 230 ; Wood, Natal PI. t. 166. Paspalum semiala, turn, var. Ecklonii, Eyles 
in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. v. 299. 
Lower Guinea. Belgian Congo : Katanga, Homble, 8 ! Elisabethville, 
Boyers, 10908 ! 10988 ! 
Mozambique Distr. Nyasaland: Namasi, Cameron, 8 ! Zomba, 2500-3500 ft., 
Whyte ! Shire Highlands, Adamson, 191 ! Scott Elliot, 8506 ! and without 
precise locality, Whyte, 80 ! Rhodesia : M’rewa, near water, Appleton, 32 ! 
Salisbury, Mrs. Premier, 3 ! Mundy ! Nobbs, 673 ! Sawer, 27 ! Mashonaland ; 
Inyanga District, Mundy ! Insiza District, Mundy, 31 ! Gazaland : Melsetter, 
6000 ft., Swynnerton . 6034 ! Mount Pene, 6500-7000 ft., Swynnerton, 1644 ! 
6035 ! Portuguese East Africa : Beira, Swynnerton, 1597 ! between Boma 
and Inyamita, on the Lower Buzi, Swynnerton, 1583 ! 
The typical form was originally described from Australia where it ranges over 
the North and East. It also occurs in New Caledonia, the Philippines and on 
the Asiatic Mainland from South China to India (sporadically as far as Ceylon 
and Kumaon). The variety seems to be confined to extratropical and tropical 
South Africa, and in a less marked form, to Madagascar. Chase, l.c., considers 
it as specifically distinct, but the differences are very slight indeed and confined 
to size and colour. Whyte no. 80 represents a pale green state of var. Ecklonii 
and very closely approaches certain Indian and Australian specimens. An odd 
modification with marginal fimbriate wings from the sides of the upper glume 
occurs both in the typical form and in var. Ecklonii. As a rule only a portion of 
the spikalets is so affected. This is the condition figured by Griffith as Panicum 
viaticum? (Aira viatica in the text). The width of the wings, which are quite 
chartaceous, varies much. 
2. A. angusta, Stapf. Perennial, about 2 ft. high. Culms very 
slender, erect or geniculatelv ascending, about 4-noded, all but the 
lowest internodes exserted, the uppermost to up to over 1 ft. long, 
glabrous, slightly rough below the inflorescence. Leaf-sheaths 
tight, striate, smooth, glabrous except at the pubescent nodes ; 
ligules reduced to a shortly ciliate rim ; blades narrowly linear, 
