124 
CLVII. GRAMINEiE (Stapf). 
[Sorghum. 
scarcely showing at all even in the tips, thin and distinctly con- 
stricted at the base, glabrous or nearly so, upper 7-9-nerved, finely 
keeled in the more or less recurved tip. Valves moderately ciliate, 
lower ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate as long as the glumes, upper 
broad-ovate, 2 lin. long, entire and muticous or more or less 2-lobed 
and mucronate or awned ; awn if present up to 6 lin. long, sharply 
bent, bristle often shorter than the column. Anthers 1 J lin. long. 
Grains elliptic, obovate or almost orbicular in outline, lf-2J lin. by 
1J-2 lin., variously coloured, more or less exposed between the 
gaping glumes. Pedicelled spikelet neuter (? always) and more or 
less reduced, linear- or lanceolate-subulate, up to over 3 lin. long, 
mostly deciduous ; lower glumes about 11-, upper 5-nerved. 
Numerous cultural races are probably referable to this species, but owing to 
lack of material their exact classification is impossible at present. Among them 
three groups seem to stand out sufficiently clearly to be treated here provision- 
ally as varieties. They are more readily recognised from fruiting than from 
flowering material, and some of the identifications given below may therefore 
need correction. 
1. Var. tremulans, Stapf. Panicles erect, branches very slender and flexuous 
to flaccid (in flower), arching or sometimes nodding and secund in fruit. Spike - 
lets narrowly lanceolate-oblong to ovate-oblong in flower, often ovate in fruit, 
mostly 2\ lin. by 1-14 lin., greenish or straw-colour in flower, at length dark 
straw-colour to tawny and sometimes blotched with red, somewhat glossy, 
usually awned, awn very slender, about 5 lin. long. Grains white or reddish, 
slightly shorter than the glumes, partly embraced by both or only by the lower. 
— Andropogon Sorghum Drummondii, Piper inProc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 42 (partly). 
Upper Guinea. Senegal, Roger ! Sierra Leone : Kamalo, Thomas. 368 ! 
Balumba, Thomas, 1932 ! Yombana, Thomas, 4172’ ! 4776 ! Mamaha, 
Thomas, 4509 ! Magbile, Thomas, 6236 ! Northern Nigeria : Sokoto Pro- 
vince, Dalziel, 518 ! “ West Africa,” Daniell, a. 1849 ! 
Vern. names : Kiti (Mende), KoJcboio (Timne) in Sierra Leone ; Karama or 
Bakin rakumi in Sokoto. According to Dr. Dalziel it is called Bakin rakumi 
(camel’s mouth) in allusion to the quivering habit of the panicles. Grown as a 
cereal. All the Sierra Leone specimens with the exception of Thomas , 368, 
are in flower only. They are remarkably uniform and also agree with Roger’s 
specimen. The grains of No. 368 are reddish-brown, darker towards the top, 
lighter (almost yellowish) at the base and they are embraced up to or beyond 
the middle by the dark straw-coloured glumes. They are either in their normal 
position or more or less twisted out of it approaching the orientation charac- 
teristic of the following variety. 
2. Var. involutum, Stapf. Panicles erect and rather dense or nodding and 
loose. Mature glumes dull purplish or blackish- brown, widely spreading, their 
margins involute, the back and front of the grain parallel to the median plane 
of the spikelet ; fertile vvalve awned or awnless. — Androjpogon Sorghum, subsp. 
sativus, var. Drummondii, Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan. vi. 507 (partly). 
Upper Guinea. Gambia, Herb. Nees ; Dahomey : cultivated as a cereal, 
Newton, 17 ! Northern Nigeria : Nupe, Baikie ! Barter ! Jeba, Barter ! 
Borgu, Barter ! 
Grown for the grain, one of the Dawa {Barter), the general Hausa name for 
Guinea corn. Among the Nigerian specimens at Kew there are two distinct 
races, one with erect rather dense panicles and grains almost orbicular in out- 
line, and whitish to pale buff or reddish, and another with secund, drooping, 
rather loose panicles and grains broad-ovoid and yellowish cinnamon-colour 
or ochre. To this are probably referable the Keniki and Bemberi of the Middle 
Niger (Dumas, Agr. Pays Chauds, v. i. 1905, 460). Keniki is the commonest 
