84 
clvii. GRAMINE^ (Stapf). \Bhytachne . 
Scott Elliot, 5737 ! and without precise locality, Afzelius ! Northern Nigeria : 
Nupe, moist valleys, Barter, 1383 ! Abinsi, by pools, Dalziel, 873 ! 
North Central. French Congo : Shari District ; Ndelli, swamps, Chevalier, 
8137! 
Nile Land. Jur : Genana, near Ghattas’ Seriba, Schweinfurth, 1493 ! 
Lower Guinea. French Congo : Brazzaville, Thollon, 73 ! Belgian Congo : 
Leopoldville, Gillet, 2651. Angola : Rio Pallanca, Newton ! Fte Princeza 
Amelia, moist meadows, Gossweiler, 1996 ! between Hurta and the Cubango 
River, Gossweiler, 2226 ! 
South Central. Belgian Congo : Katanga, Horrible, 12 ! 
Mozambique Distr. Rhodesia : Salisbury, Mrs. Cr aster, 56 ! 
Mrs. Craster’s specimen possesses very slender racemes, representing a 
forma tenuis also occurring in Madagascar ( Perrier de la Bathie, 107). 
Most of the specimens are awnless, but those from Sierra Leone and Futa 
J allon have distinct bristles, at least from the upper glume, whilst in Cheva- 
lier’s 8137, awnless and awned spikes occur in the same individual. The same 
is the case, to some degree, in Thollon’s 73. 
3. R. benguellensis, Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 138. Peren- 
nial, compactly csespitose, innovations intravaginal, surrounded by 
the remains of the coarse basal leaf-sheaths. Culms up to If ft. 
high, 1-2-noded, compressed below, glabrous and smooth. Leaf- 
sheaths tight, striate, glabrous and smooth, the lowest more or less 
compressed ; ligules very short, membranous, ciliolate, not produced 
into auricles ; blades subterete, deeply channelled, tapering to a sub- 
obtuse or shortly setaceous point, up to 1 ft. long, up to J lin. wide in 
the folded state, rigid, glabrous excepting some hairs at the junction 
with the sheath, with 2 slightly raised primary nerves on each side. 
Racemes solitary, fragile, rather stiff, 2J-3 in. long, quite glabrous, 
dull brown ; joints 2-2 J lin. long, subclavate and hollow above, 
concave on the inner face, rounded on the back and prominently 
many-nerved, smooth, disarticulating horizontally ; pedicels linear, 
somewhat curved, contiguous with and as long as the joints, much 
compressed, smooth, with 1 prominent middle nerve. Sessile spike- 
let oblong, subobtuse, with an obscure callus, brownish-purple, 
2J lin. long. Glumes equal ; lower glume subcoriaceous, subacute, 
transversely rugose, with longitudinal grooves between the rugse, 
which extend almost all over the back and the sides, keels eciliate, 
nerves about 11, faint ; upper glume hyaline, membranous, linear 
in profile, acute, not produced into a bristle, 3-nerved. Lower 
floret $ : valve oblong, obtuse, hyaline, finely 2-nerved ; valvule 
similar but narrower. Upper floret slightly shorter than the lower : 
valve oblong, subacute, hyaline, obscurely ciliolate ; valvule 1 \ lin. 
long, almost nerveless. Anthers 1J lin. long. Pedicelled spikelet 
reduced to a minute glume-like appendage. 
Lower Guinea. Angola: Huilla; between Humpata and ~Nene,Welwitsch, 2639 ! 
Very similar to B. rotiboellioides, but apparently distinct in the structure of 
the leaves, which in cross section are almost semiterete and nearly twice as thick, 
with the primary nerves completely encased in sclerenchymatic bands, running 
right through. In R. rotiboellioides, on the other hand, they are laterally much 
more compressed, with or without small sclerenchymatic caps above and below 
the 2-4 primary bundles. 
