Panicum .] 
CLVII. GRAMINE^3 (Stapf). 
4-5, differentiated 
between. Panicle 
exserted from the 
658 
1 9 " 2. ^ /uurf’ 
3. P. lineatnm, Trin. Gram. Ic. et Descr. ii. t. 233. Perennial, l&'X.n 
2-3 ft. high. Culms erect or geniculately ascending, many-noded, ' 
sparingly branched from one or few of the intermediate nodes, 
terete, lower internodes short and enclosed in or shortly exserted 
from their sheaths, upper up to over 4 in. long and more exserted, 
all softly pubescent, the pubescence intermixed with short clavellate 
gland-tipped hairs, these more numerous towards the upper part 
and particularly below the panicle. Leaf-sheaths tight, firmly 
subherbaceous, terete, prominently striate, ciliate and more or less 
softly hirsute with fine tubercle-based hairs, gland-tipped hairs 
mixed in ; ligule a short membranous ciliolate rim ; blades lanceo- 
late from a broadly rounded and constricted base, long-acuminate 
with a slender somewhat callous point, 2J-4J in. by J-l in., spreading, 
quite flat, green, firm, finely pubescent on both sides or glabrescent 
above, often with longer hairs towards the ligule and a dorsally 
tomentose zone at junction with blade, midrib slender, prominent 
and whitish below, primary lateral nerves 
below only with about 5 secondary nerves 
erect, somewhat stiff, terminally or laterally 
uppermost sheath, oblong to ovate-oblong, 3-4 in. by about 2 in., 
divided to the third degree ; common axis slender to filiform, terete 
or more or less angular, very finely pubescent and like all its divisions 
slightly wavy, smooth but more or less beset with short clavellate 
gland-tipped hairs, internodes irregularly shorter and longer (up to 
10 lin.) ; primary branches obliquely spreading, filiform, scantily 
divided from the base or some distance above it, pubescent down- 
wards ; secondary bearing 6-2 rather scattered spikelets from low 
down, the lower 12-6 lin. long, spreading, but with the pedicels con- 
tracted ; pedicels very unequal where paired, one very short, the other 
up to 3 lin. long, all subcapillary, frequently with a few long fine 
hairs besides the gland-tipped, tips very obscurely discoid. Spikelets 
oblong, acute, turgid, lj-lf lin. long, pale green, glabrous. Glumes 
very thinly membranous, very finely and somewhat prominently 
nerved ; lower ovate, acute, to over two-thirds the length of the 
spikelet, 5-nerved, the nerve-tips joined by venules ; upper of the 
length and outline of the spikelet, 9-11 -nerved. Lower floret barren : 
valve very similar to upper glume ; valvule more or less reduced, 
oblong, acute, keels scaberulous, flaps rather wide ; lodicules often 
present, but no stamens seen. Upper floret broad-oblong, sub- 
acuminate, 1J by almost } lin., yellowish, polished ; valve and 
valvule subcoriaceous, the incurved margins of the valve wide, the 
latter faintly 7 -nerved, the nerves j oined by venules in the tip ; anthers 
not much over J lin. long. — Kunth, Enurn. PI. i. 109 ; Trin. Pan. Gen. 
199 ; Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. i. 83 ; Stapf in Johnston, Liberia, ii. 666. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Kanya, 1500 ft., Thomas, 3015 ! 3037 ! 
Yombana, Thomas, 4049 ! Kumrabai, 50 ft.. Thomas, 6782 ! 7049 ! 7107 ! and 
without precise locality, Morson ! Liberia : within 20 mil. of Kakatown, Whyte ! 
