542 
CL VII. GKAMlNEiE (Stapf). 
[ Br acinar ia. 
margins finely cartilaginous, very scabrid, nerves very inconspicuous, 
primary laterals about 3-4 on each side, distinguishable only below, 
if at all. Inflorescence secund or subsecund, 1J-4 in. long of 3-8 
stiff suberect or spreading sessile or subsessile spiciform racemes ; 
ail the axes very angular, very scabrid along the angles and frequently 
pubescent, the common axis often channelled adaxi]larily. Ka- 
cemes f-l j in. long, gradually decreasing upwards, 2-seriate, simple, 
rather dense or the lowest sometimes looser and interrupted towards 
the base ; rhacliis triquetrous, lin. wide, flat or subconvex on the 
back, straight or very slightly wavy, more or less irregularly ciliate 
with white hairs, internodes J-f- lin. long ; pedicels solitary and very 
short, very rarely 2-nate and then the longer up to 2 lin. long, with 
fine long hairs near the tips which are not discoid. Spikelets con- 
tiguous to subimbricate, ovate to oblong-elliptic in outline, shortly 
cuspidate to rostrate-acuminate, somewhat turgid, 14 to over 2 lin. 
long, pale green, hairy, rarely glabrous. Glumes very unequal; 
lower broad-ovate, shortly acute or acuminate, clasping, half the 
length of the spikelet, thinly membranous, 7-nerved, nerves anastomo- 
sing upwards, prominulous : upper corresponding in outline and 
size to the spikelet, rather thin below, whitish, 5-nerved, with the 
nerves converging and passing into a solid cusp or mucro, reticu- 
lately cross-veined towards the tip, usually finely and sparingly 
pubescent below, more densely so upwards where the hairs are at 
the same time longer and more white, rarely quite glabrous. Lower 
floret neuter : valve very similar to the upper glume, slightly flat- 
tened or depressed on the back ; valvule oblong, acute or subobtusc, 
thin, with marginate keels, almost as long as the valve or more or 
less reduced ; lodicules 0. Upper floret elliptic-oblong, apiculate 
to submucronulate, very convex on the back, almost as long as the 
spikelet, pale straw-coloured ; valve and valvule crustaceous, very 
delicately pitted, glossy, flaps of the latter wide, touching downwards. 
Anthers orange-coloured, over to almost § lin. long. Stigmas 
blackish-purple, conspicuous, exserted below the tip of the spikelet. 
Grain (not quite mature) subellipsoid, dorsally slightly compressed, 
greenish ; scutellum panduriform, half the length of the grain : 
kilum narrowly oblong . — Panicum xantholeucum, Hack, in Verhandl, 
Bot. Yer. Brandenb. xxx. 141 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. 
v. 767 ; Hack, in Bull. Herb. Boiss. iv. App. iii. 15; Cheval. Su- 
dania, 159. 
Upper Guinea. Northern Nigeria : Nupe ; on cultivated ground, Barter, 
799 ! 1366 ! Sokoto, Dalziel, 476 ! 476a ! 
North Central. Bagirmi : Nigui, Chevalier . 9459 ! 
Lower Guinea. Amboland: Olukonda, Schinz, 639 ! Hereroland: Onjodja- 
here, Schinz , 474 ! 
O 
33. B. ramosa^ i. 
fascicled, slender, geniculate, suberect or more usually ascending 
from a frequently prostrate and rooting base, terete, 4 - go -noded, 
) 
Kayf. Annual, up to over 2 ft. high. Culms 
