Arthraxon.\ 
CLVII. GKAMINEiE (Stapf). 
167 
1-6 in. long, very slender, flexuous. Rhachis fragile ; joints 1J lin. 
long, usually shortly ciliate, but the uppermost cilia sometimes up 
to | lin. long, sometimes glabrous or nearly so ; pedicels reduced 
to a minute point or subule. Spikelets solitary, sessile, oblong- 
lanceolate in profile, somewhat oblique, laterally compressed, includ- 
ing the very minute glabrous or minutely puberulous callus, 1 J-2 lin. 
long. Glumes subequal ; lower subchartaceous, acute, scaberulous 
along the very slender 7-9 nerves or almost smooth towards the base ; 
upper glume obliquely lanceolate to linear-lanceolate in profile, acute 
or minutely mucronate, 3- (rarely 5-) nerved, eciliate. Lower floret 
reduced to an oblong obtuse hyaline obscurely 2-nerved valve, shorter 
by one-third than the glumes. Upper floret £ : valve narrowly linear- 
lanceolate in profile, 1-1 J lin. long, awn from near the base, usually 
3 lin. long, more rarely down to 2 or up to 4 lin. long, very delicate, 
kneed and twisted below the middle. Stamens 2 ; anthers J lin. 
long. — Merrill in Philipp. Journ. Sc. Bot. vii. 229 (30 Sept. 1912). 
A. major , Hochst. l.c. 188. A. color atus, Hochst. l.c. A. plumbeus, 
Hochst. l.c. 189. A. violaceus, Hochst. l.c. A. Schimperi, Hochst. 
l.c., partly. A . ciliaris, Rendle in Cat. Afr. PI. Welw. ii. 138, not of 
Beauv. ; A. c., subsp. quartinianus, Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan. vi. 
356 (excl. vars. Hookeri and glabrescens) ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. 
FI. Afr. 70 ; Chiov. in Ann. Istit. Bot. Roma, viii. 23. Alectoridia 
quartiniana, A. Rich. Tent. FI. Abyss, ii. 448, t. 99. Luccea 
major, Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. i. 414; Hochst. l.c. 179. L. plumbea, 
Steud. l.c. L. violacea, Steud. l.c. L. Schimperi, Hochst. in Flora, 
4856, 180 (the genuine). Pleuroplitis plumbea , Nees ex Steud. l.c. P. 
violacea, Nees ex Steud. l.c. P. major, Regel in Bull. Acad. Petersb. 
1866, 369, partly. P. quartiniana, Regel, l.c. 376, partly. Andro- 
pogon violaceus, Heyne ex Steud. l.c. A. Alectoridia, Steud. l.c. 383. 
Upper Guinea. French Guinea : Timbo, Pobeguin, 1709 ! 
Nileland. Eritrea : Decatesin, Asega, Ametsi, Medresin, etc., Forte ; Sarae, 
Gaza Gobo, 6300 ft., Pappi, 63 ! Abyssinia : near Adowa, Quartin, 14 ! Debr 
Eski, Woina, 7000 ft., Schimper, 802 ! and without precise locality, Schimper, 
911 (Herb. Drake) ! 1532 ! Uganda : Kinafu, Bummer , 1218 ! Ruwenzori, 
Kasamaga, Scott Elliot ! 
Lower Guinea. Angola : Golungo Alto, Welwitsch, 7214 ! 
Mozambique Distr. Nyasaland : Kondowe to Karonga, 2000-6000 ft., Whyte ! 
The species, as understood here, extends to Ceylon and beyond the Deccan 
peninsula as far as Behar (Parasnath, Clarke, 24887). The specimens quoted 
from Tropical Africa cover a variety of forms, differing mainly in the size of the 
spikelets. Quartin’s specimen which has to be considered as the basis of the 
species represents a form with large spikelets, whilst Schimper' s 1532, the basis 
of Arthraxon coloratus, stands for the other extreme. Variations of a similar 
nature occur also among the Indian material. According to Nash, l.c., it has 
been introduced into J amaica and Guadeloupe. 
33. HYP0GYNXUM, Nees, Agrost. Bras. 364 (partly). 
Spikelets 2-nate, one sessile, the other pedicelled, very similar in 
shape, different in sex, both awnless, on the fragile rhachis of several- 
