Panicum .] clvii. gramineai (Stapf). 717 
acute to obtuse or rounded, from less than a quarter to over a third 
the length of the spikelet, subhyaline to hyaline, with a very fine 
percurrent midnerve and with or without obscure and short side- 
nerves ; upper membranous, obliquely lanceolate-acute in profile, 
as long as the spikelet, 9-nerved, nerves usually not prominent 
or only so upwards. Lower floret $ or barren ; valve very similar 
and equal to the upper glume ; valvule distinctly shorter than the 
valve, with narrow flaps throughout ; anthers f lin. long. Upper 
floret oblong, subacute, up to over 1 lin. long, polished ; valve 
and valvule thinly crustaceous. — Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. FI. 
Aethiop. 300 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. FI. Afr. v. 751. P. aquati- 
cum, A. Rich. Tent. FI. Abyss, ii. 373 ; not of Poir. P. albidulum, 
Steud. Syn. PL Glum. i. 69 ; Durand & Schinz, l.c. 740. P. sub- 
albidum, Hochst. ex Steud. l.c. 69 ; not of Kunth ; Chiov. in Ann. 
Istit. Bot. Roma, viii. 34, 305. P. paludosum , Hochst. ex Steud. l.c. 72. 
Nile Land. Cordofan : in dried up morasses near Abu Gerad, Kotsch y, 42 ! 
Eritrea : Dembelas ; along the Mai Ciagarit, Pappi, 6045 ! Beni Amer * 
Carajai, Pappi, 6201. Barca ; Agordat, Pappi, 2810. Abyssinia : in wet 
ditches near Eerras Mai, Schimper, 1786 ! 
71. P. Swynnertonii, Rendle in Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot., xl. 230. 
Annual (?), 3-4 ft. high (base unknown). Culms slender, erect, soft, 
usually simple upwards or sparingly branched, more than 3- or 4- 
noded, terete, quite glabrous and smooth, internodes rather long- 
exserted. Leaf-sheaths tight, striate, glabrous or more rarely 
spreadingly hirsute, with tubercle-based hairs, prominently striate, 
nodes glabrous, dark ; ligule a narrow membranous minutely 
ciliolate rim or quite obscure to obsolete ; blades linear from a more 
or less constricted rounded base, tapering to a very long fine point, 
5 to over 12 in. by 2-6 lin., flat, obliquely erect, green, glabrous or 
softly hirsute towards the base, smooth except upwards along the 
finely cartilaginous margins and dorsally towards the tips, midrib 
obscure or slender and whitish on the face, lateral nerves very 
numerous and close, 4-5 primary differentiated. Panicle oblong, 
mostly rather contracted, jubate, sometimes open, slightly fiexuous or 
nodding, floribund, 6-10 in. long, divided to the fourth or fifth degree, 
all the divisions filiform to finely filiform, angular, finely scaberulous 
at least upwards ; primary axis slender, terete or angular, striate, 
smooth below ; primary branches usually in false whorls, at least 
in the lower part or solitary in weak panicles, the longest up to over 
three-quarters the length of the panicle, loosely divided from J-2 in. 
above the base ; secondary branches long, their divisions loosely 
contracted, the penultimate divisions 4-2-spiculate forming rather 
loose racemes with their spikelets distant by more than their length ; 
pedicels with minutely discoid tips, the lateral 1-2, the terminal to 
over 3 lin. long. Spikelets oblong, acutely acuminate, 1J lin. long, 
greenish, the tips often purplish. Glumes very unequal ; the lower 
broad- ovate from a clasping base, acute in profile, a quarter to almost 
