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628 
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clvii. geamine^e (Stapf). [Commelinidium. 
occurs in Chloachne and Microcalamus and is also faintly indicated in some forms 
of Acroceras. /\ 
As in certain species of Panicum, the spikelets seem sometimes to break up 
before dissemination, the second glume becoming detached and laying bare the 
back of the fertile floret. 
Spikelets slightly under 2-| lin. long, linear-oblong, olive- 
brown ; lower glume 3-nerved ... ... ... ... 1. C. mayumbense. 
Spikelets 2|--3 lin. long,, somewhat plump, greenish ; lower . 
glume 5 -nerved. • [h •£&(>) ***-& 3 - o / 
Panicles 7-10 in. long, with a terete axis and horizontally 
spreading branches ; leaf -blades glabrous below ... 2. C. gabunense. 
panicles 1 to over 3 in. long, contracted, with a triquetrous 
axis ; leaf-blades finely pubescent below 3. C. nervosum. 
(_ F'njCxnn-cJk. J 
1. C. mayumbense^ Staff. Perennial. Culms ascending from a 
prostrate or rambling base, emitting aerial roots from the lower 
nodes, many-noded, branched ; flowering culms and branches up to 
6 in. long, slender, terete, striate, each internode with a line of 
pubescence in the median plain of the supporting leaf. Leaf-sheaths 
shorter than the internodes, tight, terete, striate, densely ciliate along 
the margins and more or less bearded at the nodes, otherwise finely 
pubescent or glabrescent downwards, those supporting branches soon 
thrust aside ; ligules short, truncate, rather stiffly membranous, 
finely ciliate ; blades obliquely and broadly ovate- or elliptic- 
lanceolate from a much contracted disarticulating base, acutely 
acuminate, 1J-2J in. by 8-12 lin., quite flat, dark green, glabrous 
above except for a few small fine bristles, midrib fine, lateral primary 
nerves 3-4, very slender and slightly differentiated from the secondary 
nerves (about 6 per interval). Inflorescences 2-3, terminal and 
subterminal from the uppermost leaves, very shortly exserted with. 
2-3 ultimately horizontally spreading branches ; axis 1-1J in. long, 
filiform, subterete, like all its divisions pubescent ; branches similar 
to the axis but finer, up to § in. long, bearing up to 3 pairs of spike- 
lets ; pedicels subangular, slightly thickened upwards, truncate, 
one very short, the other 1-1J lin. long. Spikelets linear- oblong, 
subacute, not quite 2J lin. long, olive-brown, glabrous except at the 
tip. Glumes minutely penicillate-puberulous at the very slightly 
callous tip, both 3-nerved ; lower ovate, acute, half the length of 
the spikelet ; upper corresponding in length and outline to the 
spikelet. Lower floret barren : valve very like the upper glume, 
but 5-nerved ; valvule very thin, often shrivelled and appressed 
to the fertile floret. Upper floret slightly shorter than the lower, 
pale-brown, polished ; valve and valvule thinly coriaceous, the 
former broadly rounded on the back, involute margins of the valvule 
firm with delicate hyaline flaps downwards. — P. mayumbense , 
Franch. Contrib. FI. Congo Frany. in Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun, 
viii. 343 (reprint 35) ; Th. & Hel. Durand, Syll. FI. Congol. 833. 
P. gabunense , Bendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 172 ; not of Hack. 
Lower Guinea. French Congo : Mayumbe Forest, Thollon, 1209. Belgian 
Congo : Equator Distr. ; Lulanga, in humid soil on the banks of the Congo river, 
