Saccharum.\ 
CLVII. GEAMINE^E (Stapf). 
95 
Racemes up to 8 lin, long ; hairs of the callus as long 
as the spikelet ; valve of upper floret ovate-lanceo- 
late, awned ; awn as long as the valve ; blades 
3-8 lin. wide... ... ... ... ... ... 3. S. JRavennce. 
1. S. spontaneum, Linn. Mant. Alt. 183, var. eegyptiacum, Hack, 
in DC. Monogr. Phan. vi. 115. Culms up to over 12 ft. high, many- 
noded, silky below the panicle, coated with wax below the nodes. 
Leaf-sheaths tight, terete, smooth, glabrous or fimbriate at the 
mouth ; ligules short, membranous, brown, long-ciliate from the 
back ; blades linear, tapering to a very long and fine point, the upper 
2J-5 lin. wide, glaucous, glabrous or sometimes hirsute above the 
ligule, smooth below, slightly rough above, margins very scabrid, 
midrib very stout, rounded on the back, flat above. Panicle oblong, 
up to over 1 J ft. long, up to 5 in. wide, dense and rather contracted, 
silvery ; common rhachis silky ; primary branches obliquely erect, 
the lower in whorls of 4 or 5 or more, more or less silky-hairy, very 
slender. Racemes up to 4 in. long, very fragile ; joints and pedicels 
filiform, with long silky hairs, the former of varying length (the 
middle ones about 2-2 J lin. long) , the latter much shorter. Spikelets 
lanceolate, 2-3 lin. long, surrounded from the callus by a tuft of 
long silky hairs, 5-6 lin. long. Glumes subequal, lanceolate, firm 
and more or less reddish at the base, otherwise subhyaline, the lower 
acuminate, sometimes minutely 2-toothed, 2-nerved, sparingly 
ciliate, the upper acute, 1 -nerved, mucronate, densely ciliate. Valve 
of lower floret oblong to lanceolate, acute or subacute, hyaline, nerve- 
less, 1-1 J lin. long, of upper setiform or subulate, up to 1 lin. long or 
more or less reduced. Valvule, if present, ovate-lanceolate, sparingly 
ciliolate, up to J lin. long. Lodicules broad, cuneate, ciliate from 
the top. Anthers yellow, 1 lin. long. Styles over 1 lin. long. 
Stigmas purplish, J lin. long. Grain unknown.— Durand & Schinz, 
Consp. FI. Afr. 694 ; K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 96 ; Hook, f . 
FI. Brit. Ind. vii. 119. S. spontaneum, Beauv. FI. Owar. ii. 71, 
t. 103. S. hiflorum, Forsk. FI. iEgypt.-Arab. i. 16 ; Aschers. & 
Schweinf. 111. FI. ^gypte, 163. S. cegyptiacum, Willd. Enum. Hort. 
Berol. i. 82 ; Boiss. FI. Or. v. 454. S. caducum, S. speciosissimum, 
and S. Palisotii, Tausch in Flora, 1836, 527 ; Steud. Syn. PL Glum, 
i. 406, 405. S. punctatum , Schumach. in Schumach. & Thonn. 
Beskr. Guin. PI. 46. Imperata spontanea, Beauv. Agrost. 165 ; 
Roem. & Schult. Syst. ii. 289. 
Upper Guinea. Nigeria : Nun River, Vogel, 33 ! Mann, 536 ! common on 
the sandbanks of the Niger from the sea up to Borgu, Barter, 925 ! Vogel ! 
Katagum District, by streams, Daziel, 277 ! 
Nile Land. Gallabat : Matamma, Schweinf urth, 1115 ! Sudan : Sennaar, 
Broun, 782! Fazokl, Kotschy, 498! Abyssinia: Takafri, Steudner, 1105! 
banks of the tributaries of the Tacazze River, 3000-3500 ft., Schimper, 18 ! 
2206 ! Lake Heba, Drake Brockman, 139 ; Schebeli, Donaldson Smith ! 
Mozambique Distr. Nyasaland : West shore of Lake Nyasa, Kirk ! 
Extending through lower Egypt to Syria. 
