570 
CLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
[Pas'palum. 
Nash in North Amer. FI. xvii. 194 ; Hitchcock in Contrib. U.S. Nat. 
Herb. xii. 136 ; Backer in Teysmannia, xxiv. 366, t. 7. P. tenue , 
Gsertn. Fruct. ii. 2, t. 80. P. ciliatum, Lam. Illustr. i. 175 ; P. 
Beauv. FI. Owar. ii. 56, t. 92, fig. 2. P. qfricanum , Poir. Encycl. Suppl. 
iv. 314; Kunth, Enum. i. 61; Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. i. 33. P. 
Renggeri, Steud. l.c. 17. P. siebenanum, Steud. l.c. P. longissimum, 
Hochst. ex Steud. l.c. 19. Digitaria c onjuga te. Schult. Mant. ii. 262. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Kamakuia, Thom, as, 296 ! Sendugu, Thomas, 
583 ! Pendembu, Thomas, 816 ! Kennema, Thomas, 1605 ! Nj ungam, 
Thomas, 1324 ! Bumbuna, Thom, as, 3342 ! Yonibana, Thomas, 4803 ! 
Sherbro, Hunter, 26 ! and without precise locality, Welwitsch, 2937 partly ! 
Morson ! Liberia : within a radius of 20 miles from Kakatown, Whyte ! Gold 
Coast : Aburi Hills, Johnson, 469 ! Assim Yan Kumassi, Cummins, 157 ! 166 ! 
Southern Nigeria : Lagos, by water, MacGregor, 122 ! Dawodu, 344 ! Opobo, 
Jeffreys, 31 ! Abbeokuta, Irving ! Ikoyi Plains, Dalziel, 1314 ! Aboh, Barter, 
1388 ! Ndoni town, Barter, 1763 ! On the Quorra, Vogel 3 ! Old Calabar, 
Robb ! Holland, 116! Cameroons : Lolodorf , Staudt, 200 ! Bipinde, Zenker, 
4298 ! Barombi, Preuss, 302 ! Batanga, common in open bush and fields, 
Bates, 47 ! 401 ! and without precise locality, Preuss, 1147 ! S. Thome : Boa 
Nova, Moller, 129! Don\ Fernando Po, Vogel ! Mann, 119! Prince’s 
Island : in woods at the foot of Pico Papagayo, W elwitsch, 2927 ! 
Lower Guinea. Belgian Congo : Monbuttu ; Munza, Schiveinfurth, 3501 ! 
Boma District ; Sisia, Dupuis. Shinganga, Deivevre. Cataracts District ; 
Kienzei-Lutete, Hens, A 345 ! Stanley Pool District; Kisantu, Gillet. Kwango 
District; Eiolo , Laurent. Equator District ; Eala , Laurent. Ubangi District ; 
Mokoange, Boucken. Eastern Province ; Romee, Van Goezen. Kasai District ; 
Bwaka, Van Goezen. 
Common in the hotter parts of America from the Gulf States southwards ; 
also in the Indo-Malayan region and Polynesia (introduced ?). 
This grass, which is sometimes called “ sour grass ” in the West Indies 
( Grisebach ), often forms extensive mats on moist ground, spreading rapidly and 
covering the ground to the exclusion of everything else. Very acceptable food 
to cattle and horses ( Kew Bulletin, 1894, 385). 
2. P. vaginatum, Sw. Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 21. Perennial, 1J-2 ft. 
high. Culms ascending from a creeping and rooting often very long 
and branched base, many-noded, sheathed all along or the uppermost 
internodes shortly exserted. Leaves numerous, distichous, imbricate 
below, glabrous except at the often bearded mouth of the sheath ; 
sheaths pale, tight, more or less compressed, those of the bases at 
length withering away, all very smooth ; ligules very short, truncate, 
with fine hairs from behind ; blades linear, narrower at the base 
than the sheath, acute, 1-4 in. by J-1J lin., spreading, flat or in- 
volute, somewhat plump, very closely nerved, nerves of the upper 
side minutely papillose, midrib very slender, primary nerves hardly 
differentiated, margins smooth. Inflorescence of 2, rarely 3 spike- 
like racemes, peduncled on the top of the culm, erect or spreading, 
particularly the lower ; spikes J-l| in. long, slender, straight or very 
slightly arched, 2-seriate, dense, glabrous ; peduncle from very 
short to over 4 lin. long, up to J lin. wide ; rhachis herbaceous, 
triquetrous, flat on the back, chambered on the face, chambers 
oblong, up to lj lin. long, margins scaberulous, internodes |-J lin. 
