682 
CL VII. GRAMINBJE (Stapf). 
[. Panicum . 
there slightly bearded, the lowest 1-2 J in. long, more or less persistent ; 
ligule reduced to a small ciliolate rim ; blades very narrow, setace- 
ously convolute with a fine subacute point, 4-7 in. by \ or (when 
flattened out) 1 lin., rigid, glabrous or with some fine hairs towards 
the base, smooth except along the scaberulous margins and towards 
the tip, closely nerved, midrib slender, primary lateral nerves 2-3 on 
each side, slightly differentiated. Panicle slightly nodding, very 
narrow, 5-7 in. by J— § in., contracted, divided up to the third degree, 
quite glabrous, all the divisions finely filiform to almost capillary and 
like the primary axis scaberulous ; primary branches rather distant 
to beyond the middle and shorter or not very much longer than the 
internodes, then rapidly shorter and overlapping, hence the panicle 
subinterrupted below and rather dense upwards ; pedicels slightly 
thickened at the tips, the lateral very short to | lin. long. Spikelets 
more or less gaping, J lin. long, slightly turgid, slightly variegated 
with purple, glabrous. Glumes similar but unequal, membranous, 
finely nerved ; lower obliquely lanceolate in profile, acuminate, . 
mucronulate, three-quarters the length of the spikelet, sub-5-nerved, 
lateral nerves short, midnerve and mucro scaberulous, tip standing 
off ; upper obliquely oblong, acuminate, acumen involute or 
laterally compressed, usually very slightly recurved, nerves 5. 
Lower floret g : valve very similar to the upper glume and almost 
or quite as long, but broader downwards and much less acuminate, 
5-nerved ; valvule almost as long as the valve, subacute ; anthers 
\ lin. long. Upper floret 8, oblong, obtuse, £- lin. long, yellowish- 
white, glossy and smooth. 
Mozambique Distr. Portuguese East Africa : Kongone mouth of the Zambesi, 
Kirk (Jan., 1861) ! 
36. P. congoense, Franch. Contr. FI. Congo Frang. 34 in Bull. Soc. 
Hist. Nat. Autun. viii. 342. Perennial, compactly csespitose, up to 
2 ft. high with intra- and extra-vaginal innovations, covered by firm 
glabrous cataphylls. Culms very slender, erect, 4-6-noded, branched 
lower down, with the branches erect, glabrous, smooth, internodes 
mostly more or less exserted. Leaf-sheaths terete, very tight, firm, 
finely striate, glabrous and smooth, or the lowest appressedly hairy 
at the base ; ligule reduced to a ciliate rim ; blades very narrowly 
linear, usually setaceously convolute, tapering to a long fine point, 
up to 6 or 8 in. by 1 lin. (when flattened out), quite glabrous and 
smooth or very delicately ciliate or bearded at the base, midrib 
slender but distinct, lateral nerves obscure. Panicle oblong, up 
to 5 in. by 1J in., loose, divided to the third degree, all the axes more 
or less finely filiform to capillary, rather rigid and obliquely spreading 
or divaricate, smooth or scaberulous upwards, and those of the first 
and second order often bearing downwards extremely fine spreading 
flexuous long white hairs ; primary branches scattered or approxi- 
mate in pairs, the lower 1-2 in. long, loosely divided from low down, 
