Ta^r-t 2- 
Schizachyrium.'\ clvii. gr amines (Stapf). 
193 
point, up to 6 in. by 1-2 J lin. (when flattened out), reddish, glabrous 
or sometimes sparingly hirsute towards the base, midrib slender, 
pale, raised below, lateral nerves numerous, fine ; spathes narrow, 
acute, 1-1 J in. long, the lowest with a rudimentary blade, reddish. 
Racemes on finely filiform peduncles (a few lines to J in. long and 
slightly thickened and cupular at the tips), very slender, exceeding 
the spathe by up to J in. (rarely 1 in.) ; joints up to 3 lin. long, 
narrowly linear-cuneate, semiterete, with a short asymmetrical 
urceolate 2-dentate appendage, smooth and glabrous on the back, 
obscurely and imperfectly ciliolate on one or both margins, dark 
reddish ; pedicels similar, but hardly cuneate, very shortly ciliate 
on the outer edge, hairs decreasing upwards. Sessile spikelet subu- 
late, including the shortly silvery-bearded callus 3| lin. long, dark 
reddish-brown. Glumes equal ; lower sub coriaceous, thin, sub- 
convolute, when flattened out linear-lanceolate, produced into a 
narrow 2-dentate acumen, silvery hairy all over when young, soon 
glabrescent on the back, nerves few, very obscure ; upper firmly 
membranous, subulate, acuminate, 1-nerved, keel scaberulous. 
Lower floret reduced to a linear acute valve, hyaline, nerveless or 
almost so, ciliolate. Upper floret : valve 2-fid to more than half 
of its length, segments narrowly lanceolate, acute, ciliolate ; awn 
very fine, 5-6 lin. long, kneed at the middle, column dark, bristle 
whitish ; valvule 0. Stamens unknown. Grain linear, very slender, 
laterally slightly compressed, over 1 lin. long. Pedicelled spikelet 
reduced to a minute 2-keeled glume about \ lin. long with a whitish 
bristle four to five times longer. — Andropogon exilis, var. glabrescens, 
Rendle in Cat. Afr. PL Welw. ii. 142. 
Lower Guinea. Angola : Pungo Andongo ; in damp woods at Mopopo, on 
the Cuanza River, Wdwitsch, 7423 ! 
The structure of the racemes of 8. exile is very uniform in all the specimens 
enumerated under that species, and no approach has been observed towards 
the type represented by S. glabrescens. 
C 
* 7. S. nodulosum A Stapf. Annual. Culms erect, slender, J-l-J ft. 
high, solitary or fascicled, usually branched from the middle upwards, 
6-9-noded, all branches flowering, solitary, internodes more or less 
exserted, terete, glabrous or pubescent below the nodes. Leaf- 
sheaths somewhat loose, the lowest compressed and keeled, all 
glabrous or very sparingly pubescent, sometimes bearded at the 
nodes ; ligules membranous, short, truncate ; blades linear, tapering 
to an acute point, 1J to over 3 in. long, up to l\ lin. wide, flat or 
folded, glabrous, or sometimes with scattered long hairs near the 
junction with the sheath, very slightly rough along the margin, 
greenish or reddish, primary lateral nerves 2, slightly stronger than 
the secondary; spathes narrow, lanceolate, 1-1J in. long, bearing- 
narrow blades, well developed in the lower, more or less reduced, to 
almost setaceous in the upper, all pale or dark reddish, glabrous. 
FL. TROP. AFR. VOL. IX. O 
* 
