614 
clvii. gramine^j (Stapf). [. Echinochloa . 
pubescent zone along the junction of blade and sheath, rarely with a 
few short stiff hairs ; blades linear from a slightly rounded and con- 
stricted or equally wide base, tapering to a very long and slender 
point, J to over 1 ft. long, 2J to over 5 lin. wide, flat, somewhat firm, 
but flexuous, glabrous, more or less rough upwards and along the 
margins, otherwise usually smooth, midrib very slender, whitish 
upwards. Panicle erect, linear to linear-oblong, 4-9 in. by 1-2 in., 
usually rather dense ; axis somewhat slender, angular and more or 
less grooved below, triquetrous upwards, or triquetrous all along, 
scabrid along the angles at least upwards and usually with few to 
numerous stiff hairs or bristles from the nodes ; branches numerous, 
very much longer than the internodes, the lower and intermediate 
often fascicled or 2-nate, |-1J in. long, forming suberect or more or 
less spreading straight or curved or flexuous secund very dense 
sessile simple false spikes ; rhachis slender, triquetrous, from less 
than J to almost \ lin. wide, scaberulous along the angles, more or 
less finely pubescent and here and there with a long hair ; pedicels 
mostly 2-nate, almost reduced to the small discoid tips, the pairs 
less than J lin. distant. Spikelets 3-4-ranked, ovate in outline, 
cuspidate to caudate-acuminate or those of the outer ranks (rarely 
most or all) awned, 1-1 J lin. long (excluding the awn), pale or tinged 
with purple or brown. Glumes thinly membranous, finely and 
upwards somewhat prominently nerved, nerves scabrid to hispidulous; 
lower broadly ovate from a clasping base, apiculate or mucronulate, 
3-5-nerved, minutely rigidly pubescent or almost glabrous between 
the nerves, ciliolate along the margin ; upper glume ovate, cuspidate- 
acuminate, very concave, as long as the spikelet (excluding the awn, 
if any), 5-nerved, more or less pubescent or scaberulous between the 
nerves at least upwards. Lower floret $ : valve similar to the upper 
glume but flat on the back and frequently passing into a fine rigid 
scabrid awn, 3-4 (rarely 6) lin. long, 5- or upwards 7-nerved ; valvule 
almost as long as the valve, broad-oblong, keels rough upwards ; 
anthers § lin. long. Upper floret ovate to elliptic-ovate in outline, 
turgid, apiculate, almost as long as the spikelet, greenish or greyish- 
white, polished ; valve and valvule crustaceous ; anthers 1 lin. long. 
— Panicum haplocladum , Stapf in Kew Bulletin, 1908, 58. Oplis- 
menus Crus-Galli , Speke, Nile Journal, 652 ; not of Linn. 
Nile Land. British East Africa : near Mombasa n temporarily flooded 
localities, Hildebrandt, 1954 ! 2022 ! on the coast, without precise locality , 
Brand ! Kikumbulio Hills, Scoff Elliot, 6291 ! Maji Chumod, Kdssner, 455 ! 
Nairobi (?), Powell, 141 ! Baringa Marsh, Johnston ! 
Mozambique Distr. German East Africa : Tanga, Holst, 2015 ! Unyamwezi ; 
Turu, in boggy places, Grant ! without precise locality, Nobbs, 626 ! (spec, grown 
at Salisbury, Rhodesia). Portuguese East Africa ; Rovuma river, Metier ! in 
marshland by the Msalu river, Allen, 127 ! 142 ! Shupanga, Kirk ! between 
Shupanga and Sena, Kirk ! Nyasaland : in marshy ground above the Morum- 
bala Marsh, Scott ! Elephant Marsh, Kirk ! 
Grant’s specimen shows black or dark brown cross-bars on the blades, as found 
in certain forms of E. colona. 
