Panicum .] 
CL VII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
675 
up to 5 in. by 2 lin., flat, thin, sometimes flaccid, mostly suberect, 
quite glabrous or with some very fine and soft long hairs on the upper 
surface particularly towards the base, smooth below, very slightly 
rough above and along the margins, midrib very fine, whitish below, 
primary lateral nerves 3 on each side, like the secondary very fine. 
Panicle erect, oblong to obovoid, up to 5 in. by 2 in., loose and open or 
more or less contracted, divided up to the third degree ; common axis 
terete, very slender, smooth, lowest internodes 1 — \ in. long ; primary 
branches finely filiform, scabrid, divided from the base or nearly so, 
the longest up to 2J in. long, the lowest secondary branches rather 
short, hence not producing the appearance of false whorls ; ultimate 
divisions capillary, wavy, more or less contracted, scaberulous ; 
pedicels on the whole not strikingly unequal, 1-2 lin. long. Spikelets 
broadly elliptic in outline, obtuse except when quite young, -J lin. 
long, pale green, loosely pubescent, dull. Glumes thinly mem- 
branous, very finely and somewhat prominently nerved, very concave, 
subobtuse, equalling the spikelets or the lower slightly shorter ; the 
latter 3-, the upper 5-nerved. Lower floret £ : valve very like the 
upper glume, but glabrous ; valvule somewhat shorter ; anthers 
f lin. long. Upper floret obliquely elliptic-rotundate in back 
view, subobtuse, over J lin. long ; valve and valvule thinly papery, 
minutely verrucose ; anthers f lin. long. Grain unknown. 
Upper Guinea. French Sudan : dry ground near Segu, Lecard, 250 ! 
The grains are eagerly sought for by birds (Lecard)* 
28. P. filicaule, Staff. Annual, up to 1 ft. high, very delicate. 
Culms erect, finely filiform, terete, simple or more often with a short 
flowering branch from the last node but one, 4-5-noded, uppermost 
internode much exceeding the others taken together and very long- 
exserted, lowest short, but also exserted. Leaf-sheaths tight or at 
length loosened, thin, glabrous or sparingly hairy ; ligules hyaline, 
truncate, ciliolate, up to J lin. long : blades linear, acute, up to § in. 
by If lin. (sometimes much smaller), flat, thin and flaccid, green, 
loosely hairy all over or only towards the base and particularly 
behind the ligule, midrib and lateral nerves very fine, hardly differ- 
entiated, margins scaberulous upwards. Panicle oblong to ovate 
in outline, 2-3 in. by J-l in., open and very loose, very delicate in all 
parts, divided to the third degree ; common axis finely filiform, 
terete, smooth, lowest internodes 4-3 lin. long ; primary branches 
solitary, lower and intermediate sparingly divided from 1-2 lin. 
above the base, the longest 1-1 J in. long, all obliquely erect, capillary, 
flexuous, minutely scaberulous ; ultimate divisions very delicate ; 
pedicels 3-6 lin. long, smooth upwards, with minutely discoid tips. 
Spikelets ovate in outline, acute, f lin. long, pale, variegated with 
purple or brown, glabrous or very sparingly pubescent. Glumes 
very thin, lanceolate in profile, acute, very faintly nerved, unequal ; 
low~er acute, half the length of the spikelet, narrow, 3-nerved, upper 
