Entolasia .] clvii. gramine^ (Stapf). 739 
70 a. ENTOLASIA, Stapf. 
Spikelets lanceolate-oblong to lanceolate, acute or acutely sub- 
acuminate, slightly compressed from the back, falling entire from the 
pedicels, solitary or (the lowest of a raceme) 2-nate, secund or sub- 
secund and adaxial on the very slender subtriquetrous rhachis of 
spiciform paniculately or upwards racemosely arranged racemes ; 
lower floret barren ; upper floret Glumes unequal ; the lower 
reduced to a minute nerveless hyaline scale, appressed to the base of 
the lower floret, upper corresponding in outline and size to the 
spikelet, membranous, very faintly to obscurely 5-nerved. Lower 
floret reduced to the valve, very like the upper glume. Upper floret : 
valve papery to almost membranous, with the margins not hyaline, 
delicately villous or villosulous, obtuse and muticous, very faintly 
nerved ; valvule equal to the valve, 2-nerved with bluntly involute 
margins and rather narrow flaps. Lodicules 2, broadly cuneate. 
Stamens 3. Styles distinct ; stigmas laterally exserted above the 
middle of the spikelet. Grain elliptic in outline, dorsally compressed, 
more convex on the back than on the face ; scutellum rotundate- 
elliptic, less than half the length of the grain ; hilum punctiform, 
basal. — Perennial. Leaf-blades flat, papery ; ligule reduced to a 
ciliate rim. Racemes subsessile or sessile on and appressed to the 
primary branches of an open or contracted panicle or upwards 
representing primary branches. Spikelets quite glabrous outside. 
Species 2, in tropical Africa. 
Closely approaching in the structure of the inflorescence and the shape of the 
spikelets to Panicum meyerianum and Eriochloa, but differing from both in the 
perfectly muticous thin-valved finely villous or villosulous fertile florets, the 
complete suppression of the valvule of the lower floret and the absence of any 
trace of a swelling of the axis at the base of the spikelets. In the key adopted 
in this work, Entolasia might be placed near firiochloa. 
Spikelets over 2 lin. long, acute, pale straw-coloured ... 1. E. imhricata. 
Spikelets ljlin. long, acutely acuminate, dull green ... 2. E. olivacea . 
1. E. imhricata, Staff. Perennial from a short rhizome, up to 
4 ft. high ; cataphylls of the innovations appressedly silky. Culms 
erect, simple, rather stout at the base, 3-4-noded, internodes much 
shorter than the sheaths except the uppermost which is long- 
exserted. Leaf-sheaths rather firm, increasing in length upwards, 
the basal 1-2 in., the uppermost much over 1 ft. long, the lower 
keeled upwards, otherwise terete, glabrous except at the silkily 
bearded nodes ; ligule a ciliate rim ; blades linear, slightly attenuated 
or equally wide at the base, more or less tapering to an acute some- 
times subcallous point, 3-6 in. by 3-4 lin., flat, somewhat plump, 
glabrous and smooth except near the tips, margins cartilaginous, 
midrib slender, raised downwards on the underside, lateral nerves 
very fine to indistinct, sometimes 4-5 primary nerves standing out 
from the rest below. Panicle terminal, over J ft. long, very na.rrow. 
