Panicum . ] 
CLVII. GRAMINE2E (Stapf). 
685 
terete, tight, striate, the lowest long-persistent, appressedly silky- 
tomentose at the base, glabrous upwards, with ciliate margins, then 
more or less pubescent to tomentose towards the mouth, at length 
often glabrescent, the upper sheath glabrous except along the margins 
or below the junction with the blade ; ligule reduced to a ciliate 
rim ; blades linear from an equally wide or narrowed base, tapering 
to a slender point, up to 9 in. long, 1-2J lin. wide, firm and more or 
less rigid, sometimes flushed with red, loosely pubescent to hirsute 
on both sides, more densely so towards the base or densely ciliate 
there and otherwise glabrous, smooth except along the scaberulous 
margins, sometimes distinctly waxy between the nerves of the upper 
side, midrib very slender, lateral nerves close, fine, the primary 
usually hardly differentiated. Panicle oblong to ovate-oblong, 
erect, more or less contracted or more rarely widely open, 3-7 (rarely 
to 12) in. by 14-3 in., divided to the fourth degree, quite glabrous, 
rarely with tufts of small hairs in the lower axils ; primary axis 
slender, grooved below, angular upwards, scaberulous all along or 
smooth below ; primary branches either solitary or approximate in 
pairs or in false whorls, the lowest 1J-3J or sometimes 5 in. long, 
undivided for a shorter or longer distance (to 1J in.) from the base, 
then loosely and downwards repeatedly branched, the penultimate 
divisions forming loose 4-2-spiculate racemes, all the divisions 
increasingly fine, filiform, angular, scaberulous ; pedicels with 
minutely subcupular tips, the lateral very short or as long as or 
longer than the spikelets. Spikelets more or less gaping, 1-1J lin. 
long, greenish, usually tinged with purple or almost wholly deep 
purple, glabrous. Glumes similar and membranous ; lower obliquely 
ovate or ovate-lanceolate in profile, acuminate, sometimes slightly 
mucronulate, half to three-quarters the length of the spikelet, finely 
5- (rarely 7-) nerved, midnerve scaberulous upwards ; upper 
obliquely lanceolate or lanceolate-oblong, acutely acuminate, as 
long as the spikelet, 5- or more often 7 -nerved, nerves more prominent 
upwards. Lower floret : valve very similar to the upper and 
about as long, but less acuminate ; valvule almost as long as the 
valve, oblong, acute ; anthers \ lin. long. Upper floret oblong, 
obtuse, f-f lin. long, whitish, smooth and glossy. — Steud. Syn. PI. 
Glum. i. 87 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. v. 748 ; K. Schum. 
in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 103 ; Stapf in Dyer, FI. Cap. vii. 411 ; Wood, 
Natal PI. 1. 161 ; Rendle in Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot., xl. 230 ; Eyles in 
Trans. R. Soc. S. Afr. v. 300. P. amethystinum, Franch. Contr. FI. 
Congo Fran9. in Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Autun. viii. 343 (35 of reprint). 
P. chilianthum, Stapf ex Cheval. Sudania, 62, 132. 
Upper Guinea. Northern Nigeria : common in damp pastures near Abinsi, 
Dalziel, 897 ! 
North Central. Shari Territory: in swamps near Ndelle, Chevalier, 8112 ! 
Nile Land. Sudan : Jur ; near Ghattas’ Great Seriba, Schweinfurth , 1966 ! 
British East Africa ; Nairobi, Linton, 14 ! 
