128 
CLVII. GRAMINE^E (Stapf). 
[ Sorghum . 
less so or glabrous on tbe back at the junction with the sheath. 
Panicle erect, contracted and more or less dense, or loose and oblong 
or oblong-ellipsoid or obovate to oblanceolate in outline, 3-10 in. by 
2-3 J ins. ; branches erect or obliquely erect, rather rigid, finally 
sometimes slightly drooping, the longest often more than half the 
length of the panicle and undivided for J-3 in. from the base, like 
the branchlets very rough, spinulously ciliolate or ciliate, particu- 
larly upwards, slightly hairy, rarely villous at the base. Eacemes 
tough, compact, frequently 3- or 4- (rarely 5-) noded ; joints some- 
what stout, flattened, f-l| lin. long, shortly whitish or fulvously 
ciliate ; pedicels similar, about \ lin. long. Sessile spikelet more 
or less broadly obovate even in flower, with very short broad and 
depressed tips, 2J-2J lin. by 1J-2 lin., straw-colour to tawny, finally 
darker, often with red or brown or purple spots or blotches or turn- 
ing altogether fuscous, chestnut-brown or quite black, closed when 
mature or only slightly gaping, usually awned ; callus-beard scanty. 
Glumes equal, firmly coriaceous except at the papery to membranous 
tips, unevenly strigillose particularly and mostly persistently on the 
tips or almost glabrous ; lower up to 16-nerved, nerves very faint, 
keels short, usually obscure, tips very short, broadly triangular with 
a hyaline point, depressed ; upper broad, 9-nerved, obscurely keeled 
close to the tip, otherwise broadly rounded on the back. Valves 
ciliate, lower broad-elliptic, about 2 lin. long, upper broad-ovate, 
1| lin. long, 2-lobed, awn about 5 lin. long, sometimes much reduced. 
Anthers up to 2 lin. long. Grain tightly enclosed in the glumes or 
the top slightly exposed, obovate-oblong in outline, lj-lf lin. by 1-1 J 
lin., brown ; embryo-mark distinct ; nerves obliterated. Pedi- 
celled spikelet neuter, persistent, lanceolate to linear-oblong, acute, 
about 2 lin. long, reddish; lower glume 9-10-, upper about 7- 
nerved. — S. bicolor , Willd. Enum. Hort. Berol. 1036 ; Eoem. & 
Schult. Syst. ii. 837. S. nigrum , Eoem. & Schulfc. l.c. S. vulgare 
bicolor , Pers. Syii. i. 101. S. vulgare , var. obovatum, subvar. nigrum , 
Eendle in Cat. Afr. PL Welw. ii. 151 . S. rubens, Willd. Enum. Hort. 
Berol. 1036. Holcus bicolor , Linn. Mant. Alt. 301 ; Willd. Sp. PI. iv. 
929. H. Sorghum , Mieg in Act. Helv. viii. 129, t. 4, fig. 4. H. niger, 
Ard. in Sagg. sc. e lett. acad. Padova, i, 134, t. 5. H. saccharatus , 
Gaertn. Eruct. ii. 3, t. 80, fig. 2 (?), not of other authors. Andro- 
jpogon niger , Kunth, Enum. i. 501. A. rubens, Kunth, l.c. 502. A. 
Sorghum, subsp. sativus, var. obovatus, Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan, 
vi. 514. A. S., var. bicolor, Koern. in Bull. Herb. Boiss. ii. 226. 
Lower Guinea. Angola : cultivated near Mossamedes, Welwitsch, 2881, 
2882 ! Huilla ; Lopollo, cultivated in a garden, Welwitsch, 2682 b ! Damara- 
land : Ondonga ; Olukonda, Schinz, 22 ! 650 ! 
This is said to have been introduced into Angola in 1856. Occasionally culti- 
vated in the Mediterranean region from Madeira to India, also introduced into 
Australia, the West Indies and Brazil, Another variety characterised by its 
more dense to compact inflorescences represents the Andropogon Sorghum, var. 
Arduini of Koern. or A. Sorghum, subsp. sativus, var. vulgaris of Hack. A form 
