Andropogon.] clvii. gramineje (Stapf). 
259 
linear, the lower long and much attenuated at the base, tapering 
upwards to a long setaceous point, up to over 1 ft. long and 4 lin. 
wide, often tinged with purple or deep glaucous-purple all over, 
glabrous or pubescent below, margins scabrid, midrib slender or 
stout and laterally compressed in the lower part, lateral nerves very 
slender, 2-4 on each side. Inflorescence (imperfectly known) a 
scanty spatheate panicle of up to 5 mixed or upwards simple 2-3- 
rayed distant tiers, with all the rays erect, unequal, the compound 
ones from 1-1J ft. long ; or enriched by fascicles of barren (perma- 
nently ?) and flowering branches ; lower spathes resembling the preced- 
ing leaves with foliaceous blades. Spatheoles tumid at first, at length 
very narrow and tight, tapering to an acute or long setaceous point, 
2|-4 in. long, glabrous, rather thin, often suffused with purple ; 
peduncle filiform, slightly widened upwards, at length exserted (some- 
times up to over ft. long) and stiff, often forming a knee with the 
rays. Racemes 2-nate, one sessile, the other with a short bare base, 
erect, straight, more or less villous ; joints stout, clavate-cuneate, 1 \ 
lin. long, terminating with a denticulate very oblique cupule, ciliate 
on both sides and generally pubescent on the back, cilia up to 1 lin. 
long ; pedicels similar, but shorter and very stout, tips laterally 
produced into 2 large teeth. Sessile spikelet linear-oblong, including 
the obtuse bearded callus 3-3| lin. long, greenish or slightly tinged 
with brown. Glumes equal, lower minutely 2 -denticulate, flat on 
the back with a longitudinal median groove, whitish and membranous 
in the groove, otherwise firmly chartaceous with numerous close 
nerves between the groove and the keels ; slightly rough on the 
back at least upwards and usually with a line of very short stiff hairs 
in the lower half of the groove ; keels scabrid upwards ; upper glume 
subchartaceous, acute, 3-nerved, scaberulous on the keels, densely 
ciliate on the margins. Lower floret reduced to a 3-nerved hyaline 
linear-oblong ciliate valve, 2J lin. long. Upper floret Q : valve 
oblong, 2 lin. long, 2-fid to a quarter, lobes acute, subciliolate ; 
awn 6-7 lin. long, kneed at and twisted below the middle ; valvule 
oblong, truncate, over 1 lin. long, nerveless. Anthers almost 1-|- lin. 
long. Grain lanceolate-oblong, obtuse, triquetrous ; scutellum not 
quite reaching the middle. Pedicelled spikelet s $ or neuter, oblong, 
acute or subacute, about 2 lin. long; glumes equal, lower very 
many-nerved, terminating in a short fine bristle, usually slightly 
rough on the back ; upper glume membranous, up to 7-nerved, 
acute or mucronulate; lower valve 3-nerved, upper 1 -nerved, 
minutely emarginate, both hyaline and ciliate. 
Upper Guinea. Senegambia t( without precise locality, JFarmar, 45 ! 157 ! 
Sierra Leone: Sherbro Island, (in dry sandy places close to the shore. Mrs. 
Hunter, 8! Southern Nigeria: : banks of the Nun River,) Mann/ 533 ! 
Cameroons : Batanga,near the sandy beach,) Bates, 336 ! 
A fragmentary specimen collected by Captain Boteler on the Gambia and 
mentioned by Bentham (in Hook. Niger FI. 572) under A. gayanus, possibly 
belongs here. 
