32 clvii. gramine^e (Stapf). [. Ischcemum : 
spikelet similar to the sessile, but the lower glume resembling the 
upper and of about the same length. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone : Ninia ; Talla, Scott Elliot, 4927 ! 
A specimen collected by Chevalier (12860 bis) at Kouria in French Guinea, 
appears to belong to this species. The general facies is exactly the same but 
the structure of the racemes is anomalous in so far as there is an additional 
large 9-nerved bract at the base of each joint, whilst the glumes show sometimes 
traces of slight reduction in the number of nerves and the texture. Rendle 
states that he found no stamens in the upper floret of the type of I. tallanum ; 
1 have seen apparently normal filaments with semimature grains and his sugges- 
tion that those florets are early protandrous is no doubt correct. In Chevalier’s 
specimen, however, the stamens of the upper floret possess rudimentary anthers 
on very short filaments. A malformed specimen gathered by Smeathman in 
Sierra Leone and preserved in the herbarium of the British Museum is 
evidently also referable to this species. 
4. I. purpurascens, Stapf. Perennial. Culms tufted, ascending 
or suberect, 5- to many-noded, with leafy branches from the lower 
and intermediate internodes, 1-3 ft. long, glabrous and smooth. 
Leaf-sheaths exceeding or more or less equalling the internodes, 
subterete, glabrous or hairy, sometimes bearded at the nodes ; 
ligules very short, truncate, ciliate ; blades linear-lanceolate, seta- 
ceously acuminate, 3-4J in. long, 3-4 lin. wide, flat, green, glabrous, 
or more or less hairy on the back, or on both sides, midrib white. 
Racemes fascicled, 2-3, rarely more (up to 8), straight or slightly 
flexuous, up to 3 in. long, hairy ; joints stout, 3-quetrous, 14-2 lin. 
long, slightly curved, ciliate with whitish hairs, bearded at the base ; 
pedicels similar, 1 lin. long, subparallel to, but distant from the 
joints, pedicels and joints so excised at their junction as to form a 
pore visible from the back of the raceme. Sessile spikelet 2J-3 lin. 
long, ovate-lanceolate to oblong, from a short almost square or 
substipitiform callus, purplish. Glumes subequal, acuminate, 2- 
toothed, firmly membranous, chartaceous below, usually more or 
less hairy on the back, subconvex or almost flat, more or less pro- 
minently nerved, at least in the upper part, keels usually wingless, 
or with narrow wings, intracarinal nerves up to 6 ; upper glume 
boat-shaped, lanceolate, acuminate-mucronate, slightly exceeding 
the lower, keeled above, hairy, 5-7 -nerved. Lower floret £ : valve 
lanceolate, acute, mucronulate, 3-nerved, ciliate above ; valvule 
almost equal, oblong, ciliolate. Upper floret $ : valve oblong, 2-fid, 
2 lin. long, hyaline, 3-nerved, lobes broad, obtuse to subacute, cilio- 
late ; awn 3-4 lin. long, twisted below ; valvule as long as the valve, 
linear-lanceolate, acute. Anthers 1 lin. long. Pedicelled spikelet 
similar to the sessile, rather more hairy. Lower glume boat-shaped, 
keeled, 9-nerved, the rest as in the sessile spikelet.— I. fasciculatum, 
Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 141 ; Engl, in Sitzb. K. Preuss. 
Akad. Wiss. Phys. Math. Cl. lii. (1906) 887, not of Brongn. 
Lower Guinea. South Angola : Humpata, 6000 ft., Pearson, 2766 ! Huilla ; 
near the cataract of Lopollo, Welwitsch, 7484 ! 
