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CXIII. GrRAMINEiE 
7. PENNISETUM. From the Latin penna, a feather, and 
seta, a bristle, referring to the nature of the involucre surrounding 
the flowers. — All warm countries. 
Perennial ; rootstock creeping, often thick ; stems tufted, 
leafy, erect or ascending. Leaves flat, narrowly lanceolate or 
linear. Ligule a fringe of hairs. Spikelets numerous, crowded in 
a dense, spike-like raceme, glabrous or roughly pubescent, usually 
1 -flowered, ovoid, about J in. ; stalks jointed to the rhachis at their 
base and bearing near the top an involucre of long, rough bristles, 
simple or branched, naked or fringed with silky hairs and usually 
tinged with purple. Empty glumes 3, membranous ; lowest small ; 
second shorter than the uppermost, obtuse or acute ; uppermost 
