126 
CLVII. GRAMINE^E (Stapf). 
[ Sorghum . 
finely strigillose mainly below and on the sides, or almost quite 
glabrous and glossy, nerves very slightly raised at the very tips, 
keels short, sharp, somewhat rough, upper glume 9-nerved, very 
obscurely keeled, tip straight or slightly recurved, usually both 
involute when mature. Valves ciliate, lower oblong to elliptic, 
2-2J lin. long, upper broad ovate, shortly 2-lobed, 1J lin. long ; 
awn up to 6 lin. long, sharply bent above the middle. Grain 
elliptic-rotundate in outline, 1 j-lf by 1J lin., almost equally convex 
on both sides, slightly translucent, white ; embryo-mark very dis- 
tinct, elliptic-oblong, exceeding the middle of the grain. Pedicelled 
spikelet neuter, though often both valves present, persistent or 
deciduous, linear, acute, 2J lin. long, greenish ; lower glume 7-9-, 
upper about 7-nerved. 
Upper Guinea. French Congo : Bilima, Chevalier, 1586] ! 
“ Keude bitt” or “ Keude rouge” and “ Keudd blanc ” of Dumas (Agric. 
Pays Chauds, v. 1905, 459, 460) probably belong here. Both have small 
translucent (vitrifie) grains, Keude bile of red, and Keude blanc of white colour. 
They are cultivated along the Middle Niger and are much valued as food grains. 
15. S. Roxburghii, Stapf. Annual. Culms stout, tall, often 
slightly waxy, pruinose below the nodes. Leaf-sheaths softly 
pubescent at the nodes ; ligules very short, scarious, hairy from the 
back ; blades linear to linear-lanceolate or (the upper) lanceolate 
from a broad clasping base, long-attenuated upwards, up to over 
1J ft. long, and up to 1J in. wide, usually hairy to tomentose inside 
above the ligule and outside at the junction with the sheath, other- 
wise glabrous. Panicle oblong to ovoid-oblong, rarely subobovate 
or elliptic in outline, erect, contracted and dense (rarely lax) in 
flower, somewhat to much loosened when mature ; branches slender, 
flexuous, whorled or semiverticillate, the longest undivided for up 
to J-l in. (rarely much more) from the base, more or less ciliate 
towards the base and often ( villous at the junction with the nodes, 
otherwise like their divisions glabrous or nearly so, finely scabrid 
upwards. Racemes tough, up to 4- (rarely 5-) noded, J-J in. long ; 
joints slender, 1-1 \ lin. long, distinctly and often densely .ciliate, 
cilia white or purplish ; pedicels similar but more slender, of about 
the same length or more often shorter with very slightly thickened 
tips. Sessile spikelet ovate, acute with a small fine point, some- 
times flattened on the back when young but soon convex, about 
2J lin. by 1J-1J lin. permanently pale or dull straw-colour to tawny, 
at length slightly glossy ; callus -beard distinct, white. Glumes 
equal, coriaceous, lower about 10-13-nerved, finely and often 
obscurely 2-keeled towards the tips with the keels slightly scabrid, 
transversely constricted at the base, more or less white-strigillose 
(to almost tomentose) when young, at length more or less glabrescent 
on the back, upper 7-9-nerved, finely keeled upwards, tip usually 
straight. Valves distinctly ciliate, cilia up to | lin. long, lower 
