Panicum .] 
CLV1I. GRAMINE2E (Stapf). 
718 
slender, prominently striate, subterete and more or less smooth below, 
angular and scabrid upwards ; primary branches solitary or approxi- 
mate in pairs or whorls, the lower widely distant, half to two-thirds 
the length of the panicle, at length spreading at an angle of up to 45°, 
very loosely divided from 2-1 in. above the base, secondary branch- 
lets up to over 2 in. long, more or less spreading, branching again 
after the manner of the primary, but permanently contracted, 
penultimate divisions usually 2-spiculate ; pedicels with subcup ular 
tips, the lateral of a pair very short to 1 lin. long, the terminal up 
to 4 lin. long. Spikelets lanceolate-oblong, with an acute and slender 
acumen, If— 2 lin. long, broadly rounded on the back, green or tinged 
with dull purple, glabrous. Glumes very unequal ; lower broadly 
ovate, acute or obtuse, when flattened out wider than high, one- 
quarter to one-fifth the length of the spikelet, hyaline, 1-nerved or 
almost nerveless except for some extremely short side-nerves ; upper 
corresponding in shape and size to the spikelet, membranous, acumen 
subulate, 7-9-nerved, nerves prominent upwards. Lower floret g 
or more often barren ; valve as long or almost as long as the upper 
glume and very like it ; valvule shorter, elliptic-oblong to oblong, 
acute ; anthers if present rudimentary or perfect and up to 1J lin. 
long. Upper floret elliptic- oblong when ripe, subacute, up to 
over 1J lin. by f lin., pale brown, smooth and glossy ; valve and 
valvule thinly crustaceous. — P. confine, Hochst. ex Steud. l.c. 
P. jumentorum, A. Rich. Tent. FI. Abyss, ii. 373 ; not of Jacq. 
P. maximum, Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. v. 753 (partly) ; 
not of Jacq. P. virgatum, K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 103 ; 
not of Linn. 
Nile Land. Sudan : Fazogl, Figari ! Abyssinia : Gallabat ; Matamma, 
by ditches, Schweinfurth, 1144 ! 1160 ! Tigre ; Gafta, Schimper, 1230 ! 
Amogai, in marshes, 6800 ft., Schimjper, 1096 ! Shire, without precise locality, 
Schimjper, 1808 ! 
68. P. coloratum, Linn. Mant. i. 30. Perennial, csespitose, up to 
4 ft. high, with intravaginal innovations which sometimes grow out 
into short ascending stolons. Culms more or less stout and erect 
or ascending from a geniculate often decumbent and branched base, 
with the suprabasal portion simple or sparingly divided, rarely finely 
hirsute below the nodes, mostly exserted from the sheaths. Leaf- 
sheaths terete, striate, glabrous or more or less hirsute, the lowest 
pale, scarious and loose, the upper subherbaceous and tight ; ligule 
a membranous ciliolate rarely subeciliolate or densely ciliate rim ; 
blades linear to lanceolate-linear from a usually slightly rounded and 
constricted base, 5 to over 12 in. by 3-6 lin., flat, slightly rigid or 
flaccid, glabrous and smooth or sparsely hairy, green or more or less 
glaucous, margins finely cartilaginous, smooth below except for the 
tubercles of deciduous hairs, scaberulous towards the tips, midrib 
marked by a white band on the upper side, otherwise usually not 
