170 
clvii. GRAMiNEiE (Stapf). [Capillipedium. 
the others usually shorter than the internodes, glabrous or more or 
less hairy and frequently villous outside at the junction with the 
blade, mostly bearded at the nodes ; ligules very short, truncate, 
ciliolate ; blades linear from an often narrowed and slightly con- 
stricted base, long-tapering to a fine point up to almost 1 ft. long, 
1-2J lin. broad, rather rigid and often spreading, flat, glabrous or 
more often pubescent all over to hirsute, particularly just above the 
ligule, margins rough, lateral nerves fine, 3-4 on each side. Panicle 
oblong, 4-9 in. long, 1-2J in. wide, erect, more or less decompound ; 
primary branches semiverticillate, often 5-7 or more from the lowest 
node, unequal, divided from low down and up to the third degree, 
glabrous or hairy at their insertion, rarely minutely puberulous all 
along, usually dark purple to almost black, ultimate branchlets 
(peduncles) 6-1 lin. long. Racemes reduced to 1 sessile and 2 pedi- 
celled spikelets (always so in the African specimens) or 2- rarely 3- 
jointed (2 or 3 sessile and 3 or 4 pedicelled spikelets) ; joints and 
pedicels § lin. long, shortly ciliate or sometimes glabrous. Sessile 
spikelet oblong, 1J to almost 2 lin. long, usually dark purplish or 
reddish to* olive-brown. Glumes more or less membranous ; lower 
minutely truncate, very shallowly concave along the middle on the 
back, about 6-nerved (2 intracarinal), scabrid all over, ciliate upwards 
on the keels ; upper scaberulous upwards on the keel. Valve of 
lower floret f to almost 1 lin. long ; awn (including stipe) J-f in. 
long, fine. Anthers f-f lin. long. Pedicelled spikelet usually $ , 
very similar to the sessile or somewhat smaller, narrower and paler. 
Lower glume acute, 7-nerved, keels ciliolate upwards. Upper floret 
suppressed. — Holcus parviflorus, R. Br. Prodr. 199. H. ccerulescens, 
Gaud, in Freycin. Voy. Bot. 411, t. 27. Sorghum parviflorum, Beauv. 
Agrost. 132. S. quartinianum, Aschers. in Schweinf. Beitr. FI. Aeth. 
306. Anatherum parviflorum , Spreng. Syst. 1. 290. Andrqpogon 
micranthus, Kunth, Rev. Gram. i. 165 ; Enum. PI. i. 504 ; Steud. 
Syn. Glum. i. 396 ; Hack, in DC. Monogr. Phan. vi. 488. (incl. vars. 
villosulus and quartinianus ) ; Hook. f. FI. Brit. Ind. vii. 178. A. 
alternans, J. S. Presl. in C. B. Presl, Reliq. Hsenk. i. 342. A. violas- 
cens, Nees ex Steud. Syn. PI. Glum. i. 396. A. parvispica, Steud. l.c. 
397. A. capilliflorus, Steud. l.c. and in Zoll. Syst. Verz. 58. A. quar- 
tinianus, A. Rich. Tent. FI. Abyss, ii. 469 ; Durand & Schinz, Consp. 
FI. Afr. i. 721. A. serratus, Miq. Ann. Mus. Lugd.-Bat. i. 290, not 
of Thunb. Rhaphis ccerulescens , Desv. Opusc. 69. R. villosula, 
Nees ex Steud. 1 c. 397. R. microstachya, Sees ex Steud. l.c. 397. 
Chrysopogon violascens, Trin. in Mem. Ac. Petersb. 6me ser. ii. 319. 
Ch. parviflorus, Benth. FI. Austr. vii. 537, partly. 
Nileland. Abyssinia : Shire Province, Quar tin- Dillon ! Beless, Quartin- 
Dillon & Petit ! 
Mozambique Distr. Rhodesia : Salisbury, Mrs. Craster, 65 ! 
Widely distributed throughout tropical Asia, Australia, and Polynesia. 
