Sorghum .] 
CLYII. GRAMINE^: (Stapf). 
139 
bearded at the nodes, about 1 in. long ; joints 1§-2J lin. long, densely 
ciliate, glabrous on back and face, hairs pale reddish, about 1 lin. 
long ; pedicels very similar, more densely ciliate. Sessile spikelet 
broad-lanceolate-oblong, 3-3J lin. long, up to almost 1 lin. wide ; 
lower glume coriaceous, except at the short scarious truncate tip, 
about 11 -nerved (nerves fine, but distinct on the inner side), black 
except for a whitish transverse band above the short obtuse bearded 
callus and the paler tips, rigidly ciliate towards the tip, very sparingly 
hairy on the sides and sometimes below the middle on the back ; 
upper glume coriaceous, slightly longer than the lower, lanceolate, 
subacuminate, acute, 5-nerved. Valve of lower floret sublinear, 
minutely 2-toothed, 2 lin. long, membranous, whitish, brown upwards, 
ciliate, 2-nerved ; of upper floret broad - ovate, shortly 2-lobed, 
1-| lin. long, ciliate ; awn slender, about 1 j in. long, kneed at 
and twisted below the middle, column dark bronze-colour, minutely 
ciliate along the spirals, bristle pale. Valvule a broad scale as long 
as the densely ciliate lodicules. Anthers 1| lin. long. Pedicelled 
spikelet $ or particularly the uppermost reduced and neuter, 
oblong-lanceolate, 3 lin. long, greenish ; glumes thinly chartaceous, 
loosely hairy, lower 9-1 1-, upper 5-7 -nerved; valve of lower floret 
lanceolate, up to 2J lin. long, 2-nerved, ciliate, of upper broad- 
oblong, shortly 2-lobed, delicately hyaline except for a firmer median 
stripe, ciliate, with a $ flower. — Andropogon serratus, var. versi- 
color, Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan. vi. 522 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. 
FI. Afr. v. 723 ; K. Schum. in Engl. Pfl. Ost-Afr. C. 98. 
Nileland. British East Africa : Mombasa, Turnbull, 3 ! Malindi, Linton , 
54 ! 
South Central. Rhodesia : Livingstone, Rogers, 7057 ! Salisbury, Rogers , 
5798 ! by the Batoka River, Allen, 439 ! 
Mozambique Distr. German East Africa: without precise locality, Hannington ! 
Busse, 163 ! Portuguese East Africa : in damp meadows, Tete and Boror, Peters. 
Also in the Transvaal (Rustenburg, near the Crocodile River, Burtt-Davy, 
9305 !). 
26. S. purpureo-sericeum, Aschers. & Schweinf. in Schweinf. 
Beitr. FI. Aethiop. 302, 306. Annual, erect, up to over 3 ft. high. 
Culms somewhat stout, simple or almost so, appressedly silky below 
the nodes, otherwise glabrous, 3-4-noded, internodes exserted. 
Leaf-sheaths slightly compressed and keeled upwards, scarious, the 
lower more or less softly hirsute upwards, otherwise glabrous like 
the upper, all with a dense beard 3J-4 lin. long at the nodes, and a 
shorter dorsal transverse one at the junction with the blade ; ligules 
very short, truncate, membranous, ciliate and with long hairs from 
the back ; blades linear, attenuated to a fine point, hardly narrower 
at the base, up to 9 in. long, 2J-4J lin. wide, flat, softly hirsute on 
both sides, slightly scabrid on the fine cartilaginous margins, midrib 
prominent and white below, lateral nerves 3-5 on each side, fine. 
Panicle oblong, about 4 in. long, rather loose ; rhachis smooth, 
