634 
clvii. gramine^j (Stapf). [Oplismenus . 
and Kisantu, Gillet, 466 ; Tshumbiri, Laurent ; Ngombi, Demeuse. Kwango 
Distr. : common on the lower Kwango to the Kasai river, Vanderyst, 4274 ! 
Kikiwit, Vanderyst, 2963 ! Bangala Distr. ; in woods at Lisha, Hens, 151 ! 
157 ! Angola : Golungo Alto ; common in shady woods on the rivers Guiapose, 
Cuango, etc., Welwitsch, 7186 ! 7199 ! 7200 ! Pungo Andongo ; in shady woods 
between the Presidium and Luxillo, Welwitsch., 7391 ! 
Nile Land. Uganda : Toro, Tufnell ! in dense forest near Kipayo, 4000 ft., 
Hummer, 759 ! Entebbe, on the lake shore, 3900 ft., Dawe ! near the Victoria 
Nyanza, Maitland, 162 ! British East Africa: Nairobi, Linton, 220 ! 
Mozambique Distr. German East Atrica : Usambara ; virgin forest near Amani, 
Broun, 375 ! * Mbarama, Holst, 2496 ! Kilimanjaro ; Marangu, 4500 ft., Volkens, 
1432 ! at 5300 ft., Johnston, 63 ! Rhodesia : Victoria Falls, Rogers, 13284 ! Living- 
stone, Rogers, 7400 ! Gazaland : Chipete forest, 3800 ft., Swynnerion, 409 ! * 
Also in South Africa and the Mascarenes, in the warm parts of America from 
Georgia and the Gulf States southwards, and in the Sandwich Islands. The size 
of the spikelets, the length of the awns and their number in the raceme are 
apparently dependent on the vigour of the plant, the first two characters varying 
frequently in the same individual or the same raceme as much as they do between 
the individuals of a given collecting or a limited area. Robust states with 
longer and more linear -lanceolate blades, longer racemes and longer awns 
represent the O. loliaceus of America. They are marked with an asterisk (*) 
in the enumeration given above. More meagre forms with lanceolate to lanceo • 
late-ovate blades, reduced inflorescences, very short racemes and mostly 
shorter awns occur throughout the area, but prevail, or occur to the exclusion 
of the other state, towards the northern and southern limits of the area. They 
correspond to the O. setarius of authors. They intergrade with typical 
O. hirtellus, as already observed by Hitchcock & Chase (Grass. West Ind. in 
Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb, xviii. 344), and are not marked off in this place. Another 
extreme, with delicate culms and small narrow blades (1-2 in. by 2-3 lin.) and 
the racemes replaced by small clusters with partly arrested spikelets or by 
solitary spikelets, was named O. simplex by K. Schumann, and described by me 
as a variety of O. africanus. The few specimens referable to it are indicated 
above by a double asterisk (**). O. capensis of Hochstetter ( O . africanus , var. 
capensis, Stapf) is intermediate between it and the “ setarius ” form. The 
amount of indumentum is very variable in the leaves as well as in the inflor- 
escences and apparently is not correlated with any structural differences or 
with geographical distribution. 
Dawe states that this is the grass on which the natives of the neighbourhood 
of Entebbe feed their horses. 
2. 0. compositus, P. Beauv. Agrost. 54. A perennial grass with all 
the vegetative characters of 0 . hirtellus , but on the whole more robust. 
Inflorescence up to 1 ft. long, secund or subsecund, of up to 10 or 
more loose mostly interruptedly spiciform racemes on a flexuous 
downwards semiterete otherwise triquetrous usually glabrous and 
almost smooth axis, or sometimes ciliate along its lateral angles, 
rarely spreadingly hairy all over ; racemes distant, at least the 
intermediate, by less than their own length, the lowest by 1-2| in., 
erect or more or less spreading, the uppermost reduced to clusters of 
spikelets gathered in a long terminal raceme which is very like the 
lateral racemes, the longest 1 to over 3 in. long, rarely all short and 
the whole inflorescence as it were represented by a terminal inter- 
rupted spike-like raceme ; rhachis flexuous, triquetrous, terminated 
by a spikelet, green or greyish-green, glabrous or sparingly (very 
rarely copiously) ciliate with fine soft spreading hairs, bearded at the 
