Sorghum .] 
CLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
121 
green, reddish along the margins, midrib stout. Panicle oblanceo- 
late, contracted or the lower branches spreading and nodding, and 
then more or less secund, up to 9 in. long ; branches suberect or 
the lower arching over, very slender, whorled, hairy at the base, the 
longest up to 5 in. long and undivided for half their length, all very 
finely scabrid or almost smooth below. Eacemes up to 5-noded 
and 10 lin. long ; joints very slender, 1J lin. long, ciliate, cilia 
whitish, less than lin. long ; pedicels very similar, tips subdiscoid. 
Sessile spikelet oblong, subacute, 2-2 J lin. by f-1 lin., pale straw- 
colour, dull ; callus-beard \ lin. long. Glumes equal, thinly coria- 
ceous, papery upwards, lower 9-11-nerved, more or less and unevenly 
whitish-strigillose, finely 2-keeled and sparingly ciliolate upwards, 
the hyaline apex usually, produced between the abrupt tooth-like 
keel-ends, lower 7 -nerved, finely keeled towards the tip, hairy above 
the middle and on the sides. Valves finely ciliate, lower broad 
oblong-lanceolate, 2-2J lin. long, upper ovate, 1J lin. long, sub- 
entire, mucronulate. Anthers 1J lin. long. Grain unknown. 
Pedicelled spikelet $ , lanceolate, 2J lin. long, of the same colour 
as the sessile, glabrous or nearly so ; anthers f lin. long. — Andro- 
pogon halepeneis muticus, Bulger in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash, xxviii. 29 
( fl.s to TTi orpri ’« snpp.impnV uVyttf'V'/jl? 
(as to Figari’s specimen). 
Nileland. Eastern Abyssinia 
without precise locality, Figari ! > L / 
11. S. aterrimum, Stapf. Annual. Culms slender to 6 ft. high. 
Leaf-sheath (only parts of the upper seen) strongly blotched or 
flushed with blackish-purple ; ligules very short, blackish-purple, 
densely ciliate from the back ; blades lanceolate-linear from a some- 
what narrower base, long-tapering upwards to an acute point, the 
uppermost 7-8 in. by 10 lin., pale green to almost glaucous, blotched 
with purple, pubescent inside above the ligule. Panicle narrowly 
oblong to ovate-lanceolate, erect, contracted or more or less secund 
with nodding branches, up to 1 ft. by 2-4 in. ; branches slender, 
somewhat flexuous, whorled or 1-2 from a node, mostly branched 
from the base though the lowest divisions often arrested, the longest 
3-4 (rarely 5) in. long, internodes rather stout, all divisions very 
slightly rough or smooth downwards. Eacemes rather tough, 2-3- 
(rarely 4- or 5-) noded, 4-5 (rarely 7-8) lin. long ; joints very 
slender, 1J lin. long, shortly whitish-ciliate ; pedicels very similar 
and of about equal length, tips minutely discoid. Sessile spikelet 
lanceolate-oblong in flower, ovate- to elliptic-oblong in fruit, acute 
or subacute, 2f-3 by 1-1 J lin., clay-colour tinged with red below, 
finally usually jet-black or reddish-black and glossy, closed when 
mature, awned or awnless ; callus-beard J lin. long. Glumes equal, 
coriaceous, thinner upwards, lower minutely 3-toothed, about 13- 
nerved, 2-keeled and very minutely spinulously scabrid in the upper 
third or quarter, with the nerves very obscure in the tip, usually 
very sparingly and shortly strigillose, finally often glabrous, upper 
