Panicum.] 
CL VII. GKAMINEiE (Stapf). 
689 
43. P. fluviicola, Steud. Syn. FI. Glum. i. 89. Perennial, csespitose 
from a short rhizome. Culms suberect, geniculate, over 2 ft. high, 
about 4-noded, sparingly branched, terete, thickened at the nodes, 
like the whole plant quite glabrous. Leaf-sheaths tight, firm, 
striate, the lower longer, the upper shorter than the internodes ; 
ligule a ciliate rim ; blades narrowly linear, convolute, tapering to a 
long slender point, flexuous, 4-8 in. by 1 lin. Panicle up to 9 in. long, 
narrow, contracted, flexuous, much divided, all the divisions finely 
filiform to capillary, scaberulous ; lower branches pseudo-verticillate, 
unequal, up to 3 in. long, undivided for a short distance from the 
base, then very loosely branched ; penultimate divisions representing 
very lax racemes of up to 6 spikelets ; lateral pedicels 1J lin. long or 
longer, hardly thickened at the tips. Spikelets early gaping, 1J to 
almost 1 J lin. long, pale greenish, with purplish tips. Glumes : 
lower obliquely ovate-lanceolate, mucronate-acuminate, two-thirds 
to three-quarters the length of the spikelet, appressed except the 
acumen, midnerve distinct, side-nerves up to 2 on each side, 
faint in transmitted light ; upper obliquely lanceolate in profile, 
mucronate-acuminate, as long as the spikelet, the dull purplish 
acumen slightly recurved, faintly 7-nerved, nerves more distinct 
upwards. Lower floret : valve similar to the upper glume, but 
slightly shorter, broader, less acuminate, without any mucro, paler 
to almost whitish below the tips, faintly 5-nerved ; valvule shortef, 
ovate-lanceolate, acuminate ; anthers J lin. long. Upper floret 
oblong, obtuse, not quite 1 lin. long, glossy and smooth ; valve and 
valvule subcrustaceous. — Jardin, Herbor. Cot. Occ. Afr. 6 ; Durand 
& Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. v. 749 (excl. syn.) ; Franch. in Bull. Soc. 
Hist. Nat. Autun, viii. 342 (reprint 34). 
Upper Guinea. Southern Nigeria : Old Calabar, Robb ! Cameroons ; Bogalo 
District, Macleod ! Tuburi marsh, MacLeod ! Ham river, Logone, MacLeod, 
151 ! 
Lower Guinea. Gaboon : banks of the Gaboon river, Jardin ! French 
Congo : Loango, in sandy places, ThoLlon, 1215. Belgian Congo : Lower 
Congo, Smith ! 
Jardin, L.c., enumerates this species among the plants collected by him in 
Prince’s Island, but on the label the “ banks of the Gaboon river ” is given as 
the locality. 
44. P. genuflexum, Staff. Perennial, up to 2 ft. high, forming 
tufts of flowering and barren culms, with intravaginal innovations. 
Culms repeatedly geniculate, ascending, terete, slender, smooth and 
glabrous like the whole plant, 4-5-noded, branched all along, the 
lower and intermediate branches repeating the features of the main 
culm, lower internodes wiry, bared by the slipping off of the sheaths, 
slightly thickened at the nodes. Leaf-sheaths rather firm, tight at 
first, greenish with purplish bases and dark nodes, finely striate ; 
ligule reduced to a minutely ciliolate rim ; blades linear from an 
equally wide base, tapering to a slender point, 3-6 in. by 2-2 \ lin., 
flat or involute when dry, slightly glaucous, quite smooth, closely 
FL. TROP. APR. VOL. IX. — PT. 4. 2 Y 
