60 
CLV]1. GRAMINE.ZE (Stapf). 
[. Peltophorus . 
with hollow tip, concave on the inner face, striate or ribbed and 
frequently sulcate on the back, smooth, glabrous. Sessile spikelet 
oblong, 2 lin. long, with a very short glabrous callus. Glumes 
equal ; lower very obtuse, emarginate, coriaceous, transversely 
rugose throughout, with longitudinal grooves, keels winged above, 
eciliate, intracarinal nerves 5 ; upper glume membranous, broadly 
oblong, subacute, obscurely ciliate above, with an obscure and 
often gibbous keel below the apex. Lower floret barren : valve 
hyaline, broadly oblong, subobtuse, 2-nerved, obscurely ciliolate ; 
valvule 0. Upper floret : valve a quarter shorter, broadly oblong, 
obtuse, hyaline, 2-nerved ; valvule somewhat shorter than the 
valve, narrowly oblong, nerveless. Anthers 1J-2 lin. long. Pedi- 
celled spikelet slightly longer and narrower than the sessile. Lower 
glume smooth on the back, somewhat asymmetrically winged, olive- 
green with brown keel-nerves ; upper glume 3-nerved, keel winged 
all along. Florets as in the sessile spikelet, but the upper $ . 
South Central. Belgian Congo : Katanga ; Bville, in dry bush, Horrible, 56 ! 
15. LASIURUS, Boiss. Diagn. ser. ii. iv. 145. 
Spikelets usually 3-nate, rarely 2-nate, on the more or less fragile 
rhachis of villous spike-like racemes which terminate the culms 
and their branches (if any) and are supported bv or exserted from 
often spathaceous sheaths, if 3-nate 2 sessile, the sessile different 
in sex from, but similar in shape to, the pedicelled ; rhachis nodes 
bearded all round ; joints and pedicels linear, the latter more slender 
and shorter, opposite the joints if 2 sessile spikelets be present, other- 
wise approximate, but not contiguous, and parallel to one of the 
sides of the joint ; disarticulation at a right angle to the rhachis, 
scar at the tips of the joints suborbicular, smooth, often ciliate. 
Sessile spikelets, if 2, one on each side of the pedicel with a narrow 
annuliform callus. Florets 2, lower $ , upper $ , awnless. Glumes 
unequal ; lower longer, subcoriaceous, flat on the back, acuminate, 
2-keeled upwards and 2-dentate, densely ciliate, upper boat-shaped, 
membranous, keeled. Valves hyaline, 3-nerved. Valvules hyaline, 
2-nerved. Lodicules 2, cuneate. Stamens 3. Stigmas linear, 
laterally exserted. Grain oblong, slightly dorsally compressed ; 
embryo half its length. Pedicelled spikelet similar to the sessile, 
but with an indistinct glabrous callus and with both florets $ or 
more or less reduced. — Perennial, more or less branched and woody 
below ; branches often in dense fascicles, intravaginal ; blades 
linear, convolute or flat, hard ; ligule a fringe of hairs ; racemes 
silky- villous. 
Species 1 (? 2), from Nubia through Arabia and Baluchistan to Sind. 
1. L. hirsutus, Boiss. Diagn. ser. ii. iv. 146. Perennial, tufted 
