Brachiaria .] 
CL VII. GRAMINEjE (Stapf). 
515 
hairs upwards. Lower floret as long as the spikelet, gaping 
upwards : valve oblong, subacute, thinly membranous, depressed 
on the back, 5-nerved with the inuer side-nerves widely distant 
and with some distant cross-veins, finely pubescent on the side ; 
valvule as long as the valve, very acute, keels narrowly winged, wings 
firm, recurved upwards and together with the narrow glistening flaps 
laterally exposed ; anthers over 1J lin. long. Upper floret elliptic- 
oblong in outline, minutely apiculate, much gaping when in flower, 
pale brown, slightly shorter than the spikelet ; valve and valvule 
crustaceous, the former 5-nerved with a few cross-veins close to 
the tips. 
South Central. Belgian Congo : Katanga, Homble, 5 ! 
5. B. viridula, Stapf. Perennial, up to over ljft. high, compactly 
csespitose with intra- and extra vaginal innovations, coated with the 
persistent tough basal sheaths. Culms erect, quite simple, 2-noded, 
with the upper node usually far below the middle, terete or somewhat 
compressed downwards, glabrous and smooth. Leaves crowded at 
the base ; sheaths tight, terete, striate, the lower more or less hirsute 
or glabrous except at the ciliate outer margin, the uppermost often 
quite glabrous ; ligules a ciliolate rim ; blades linear from an equally 
wide or slightly constricted base, tapering to a callous point, 1J-7 in. 
by lJ-2^- lin., flat, rather rigid, green, finely hirsute on both sides, 
and often bearded at the mouth, margins finely (sometimes obscurely) 
cartilaginous and remotely minutely spinulose or ciliate, nerves very 
slender or obscure, 3-5 primary lateral on each side distinguishable 
below only. Inflorescence erect, secund, of 4-2 oblique spreading 
secund spiciform racemes ; common axis § to almost 3 in. long, 
filiform, semiterete and usually channelled below or flattened upwards, 
smooth or slightly rough and sparingly ciliate along the angles. 
Eacemes simple, dense, straight, distinctly 2-seriate, 8-15 lin. long, 
greenish ; rhachis somewhat wavy, rather flat on the green or dull 
purple back, triquetrous in cross section with narrowly winged 
lateral angles, §-§ lin. wide, minutely puberulous or scaberulous 
and loosely setulosely ciliate, internodes §-| lin. long ; pedicels 
solitary, extremely short, scabrid, setulose below the discoid tips. 
Spikelets imbricate in front view, laterally contiguous or nearly so, 
oblong to ovate-oblong, subacute or apiculate-acuminate, If— 2 lin. 
long, often slightly turgid, dull green except the lower glume which 
is sometimes purple, hairy. Glumes dissimilar ; lower oblong to 
broad-elliptic-oblong, very obtuse or truncate and sometimes slightly 
emarginate, three-quarters to four-fifths the length of the spikelet, 
firmly membranous, 9-11-nerved, glabrous ; upper nearly as long as 
the spikelet, subobtuse or minutely apiculate, thinner, 7-nerved with 
cross-veins from below, loosely hairy. Lower floret ; as long as 
the spikelet : valve broad- to elliptic-oblong, subacute or apiculate, 
almost hyaline on the back, finely 5-nerved, loosely reticulate from 
