586 
CLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
[ Brachiaria . 
Soc. ser. 2 , ii. 29 ; Stapf in Dyer, FI; Cap. vii. 388 ; Rendle in Journ. 
Linn. Soc. Bot. xl. 229 ; . Eyles in Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr. v. 300; 
Heering in Arbeit. Deutsch. Landwirtsch.-Gesellsch. Heft 197, 15. 
P. melanotylum, Hack, in Engl. Jahrb. xi. 398. P. melanostylum , 
Durand & Schinz, Consp. El. Afr. v. 756. 
Nile Land. British East Africa: without precise locality, Mrs. Prescott- 
Decie ! 
Lower Guinea. Amboland : Ondonga, Rautanen ! Otawifontein (according 
to Heering). Hereroland: Okanakersewa, Vinter, 649! between Harris and 
the Awas Mountains, on the high plateau, Pearson, 9506 ! between Choaberib 
and Gurumanes, Pearson, 9406 ! 
Mozambique Distr. Rhodesia: near the Zambesi, Holub ! Mashonaland: 
Umtali, Hon. Mrs. Cecil, 268 ! Salisbury, 4900 ft., Pyles, 631 ! Enkeldoorn, 
Nobbs, 673 ! Bechuanaland : Greathead in Colonial Herb. 4083. Bulawayo, 
Jeffries, 62 ! Rogers, 5901 ! Portuguese East Africa : Madanda forest, 400 ft., 
Swynnerton, 1558 a ! 
C 
27. B. lachnantha A Stapf Perennial, compactly csespitose on a 
short rhizome with intra vaginal innovations, 1J-2 ft. high. Culms 
erect or geniculately ascending, moderately slender, about 2-noded 
with the uppermost node below the middle, the lower internodes 
pubescent upwards, otherwise glabrous. Leaves crowded at the 
base ; sheaths tight, the lower firm, finely striate, more or less com- 
pressed upwards and villosulous at the nodes, hairy to tomentose 
at the very base, finely pubescent or glabrescent upwards, long- 
persistent and coating the barren shoots and flowering culms ; 
ligules a fringe of very short hairs ; blades linear from an equally 
wide or attenuated base, tapering to a fine callous point, 4-7 in. long 
by 2-2 b lin., flat, pale green or slightly glaucous, somewhat plump, 
sparingly hairy or glabrous, rarely subiiirsute, nerves numerous, the 
primary lateral indistinctly differentiated, margins very slightly 
rough upwards. Inflorescence up to 4 in. long, sometimes much 
reduced and very short, of 5-2 suberect almost equally distant 
racemes ; common axis slender and adaxillarily flattened or chan- 
nelled, glabrous, scabrid or scaberulous along the angles. Racemes 
stout, sessile or subsessile, very dense, 2-seriate, simple, up to 1 in. 
long, silkily villous ; rhachis almost straight, somewhat flattened, 
subtriquetrous, about § lin. wide, densely and long-ciliate, the cilia 
equalling the spikelets ; internodes J lin. long ; pedicels solitary, 
J to almost 1 lin. long, villous with the hairs over 2 lin. long. Spikelets 
contiguous, broadly oblong, subacute or shortly acuminate, 2 liir. 
long, greenish, frequently tinged with purple. Glumes very unequal, 
thinly membranous, the lower very broadly ovate, J lin. long, acute 
or 2-dentate, pubescent, imperfectly 3-nerved ; the upper corre- 
sponding in outline and size to the spikelet, finely 5-nerved, loosely 
villous. Lower floret as long as the spikelet, ; valve very similar 
to the upper glume, somewhat flattened on the back with a few 
delicate cross-veins ; valvule ovate-oblong, subacute, about 1J lin. 
