Byparrhenia.] clvii. gkamine^e (Stapf). 
307 
described that species. Of these numbers 935 and 1118 are in my opinion 
genuine H. rufa. They were meant by Hochstetter (1842) to represent tj^pical 
A. fulvicomus. At that time Andropogon rufus had not been recorded from 
Africa and the only species which suggested themselves for comparison to Hoch- 
stetter were A. pubescens, Vis., and A. podotrichus, Hochst., forms of H. hirta , 
and it was in order to emphasize the contrast of the white pubescence of the 
spikelets of A. pubescens and A. podotrichus with the fulvous pubescence of 
A. fulvicomus that he selected the latter name. Schimper 928 and 1114 were 
issued by Hochstetter (also in 1842) as A. fulvicomus var. approximate with 
the synonym A. altissimus, Hochst. in litt., a name which the year before had 
been taken up and published by A. Braun (in Flora , 1841, 277), together with 
a brief description. This A. altissimus is clearly distinct from H. rufa and is 
described below as H. altissima. Another synonym which requires explanation 
is A. xanthoblepharis, Trim This was based on a specimen from the Congo, 
no doubt collected by Christian Smith in 1816. The figure quoted above 
might almost be called a faithful portrait of Smith’s example in the Kew 
Herbarium. It is true the awn is represented in the figure as glabrous, but 
as the hairs are so appressed in Smith’s specimen as to be easily overlooked, 
they probably escaped the attention of the draughtsman and possibly also of 
Trinius, who in the original description passed over the character of glabrous- 
ness and only introduced it subsequently in the text which accompanies the 
figure of his A. xanthoblepharis. 
K" 5. H. altissima^ Stapf. Perennial, up to 7 ft. high, with intra- 
(and extra- ?) vaginal innovations. Culms erect or geniculately 
ascending, slender to somewhat stout, up to 1J lin. in diam., terete, 
solid, glabrous and smooth, simple and 5-6-noded below the panicle. 
Leaf-sheaths terete, glabrous, shorter than the internodes except 
the lowest, which themselves are short and more or less persistent 
or decay down to their fibrous bases ; ligules scarious, rounded, 
up to 1J lin. long, glabrous or appressedly hairy on the back ; blades 
linear, narrow and equally broad downwards, long-tapering to a fine 
point, 6-9 in. (in cultivated specimens much longer) by 1-1 \ lin., 
rather firm, flexuous or more or less rigid, flat, glabrous, rough along 
the margins and upwards on the upper face, otherwise rather smooth, 
midrib slender on the back, wider and whitish towards the base 
on the face, lateral nerves about 2-3 on each side, slender. Spatheate 
panicle very lax, somewhat scanty, to over 1 ft. long ; primary inter- 
nodes 3-4 in the wild, up to 7 in the cultivated specimens, the lowest 
up to 10 in. long, the following gradually decreasing ; primary tiers 
few- to 8-rayed, the lower usually mixed or reduced to 1 or 2 long but 
few-noded compound rays ; ultimate rays very slender, filiform, 
2-2J in. long ; subtending leaves soon becoming spathiform upwards 
with much reduced blades or quite spatheoloid (in cultivated speci- 
mens the blades much more developed). Spatheoles very narrow, 
linear-lanceolate, acuminate, subherbaceous or scarious, at length 
reddish, 2-3 in. long, ultimately tightly inr oiled ; peduncles finely 
filiform, at length 3-4 in. long, more or less curved and bearded 
towards the tips, beards of long spreading whitish tubercle-based 
hairs. Racemes slender, somewhat loose and flexuous, f-l| in. long, 
fulvous to greyish or brownish, very slightly spreading, finally epi- 
nastically reflexed, 7-13-awned per pair ; bases unequal, the lower 
