Volume 5

Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61.

  • British Museum (Natural History) Department of Botany
Date:
1896-1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Catalogue of the African plants collected by Dr. Friedrich Welwitsch in 1853-61. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    253/290 (page 247)
    than the spikelets, the latter a slatey blue, compressed, lanceolate, 5- to 6-flowered ; barren glumes long, lanceolate, acute, 1-nerved, glabrous, keel minutely scabridulous, the lower a little shorter and less acute; fertile glumes ovate-lanceolate, subobtuse, lateral nerves strong, scabridulous-pilose, keel minutely scabridulous; pale a little shorter, elliptical, blunt, keels scabridulous-pilose. An elegant plant with a Poa-like habit. Culms young, with the panicle not yet fully expanded, 14 to If ft. high, a little over a line in thickness at the base, the lowest internode completely hidden by several basal sheaths, less than 1 in. long, the second 3 or more in. long ; leaf-blades reaching 54 in. long by 2 lines broad at the base. Panicle not fully developed, 7 in. long by If greatest width, lower branches 2 to 3 in. long, the upper becoming shorter; spikelets barely 3 lines long by f line broad; lower barren glume 1 line long, the upper If to If line, about equal in length to the lowest fertile glume; anthers f line long; grain not yet developed. A distinct species characterised by its Poa-like inflorescence, hairy rhachis and spikelets, and long acute barren glumes. Huilla.—In wooded meadows near Lopollo ; Jan. 1860. No. 2631. 27. E. fascicularis Trin. in Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. Petersb. ser. 6. i. p. 403 (1830) (e descript.); Steucl., l.c., p. 270 ; Durand & Schinz, l.c., p. 883. 1 E. benguelensis Wawr. & Peyr. in Sitzungsber. Math.-Nat. Cl. Acad. Wiss. Wien, xxxviii. p. 583 (1859), (Sertum benguelense, p. 43 [I860]); Durand & Schinz, l.c., p. 880. Poci fascicularis Kunth Enum. i. p. 339 (1833). Ambriz.—In sunny sandy places, even the most sterile, near Ponta d’Ambriz in West Congo, remarkably social ; Nov. 1853. No. 2893 Native name, Sangalala. Barra do Dande.—A perennial grass 3 to 6 ft. high, culms de- cumbent with erect fascicles of branchlets, or densely csespitose and erect, 4 to 5 or even 6 ft. high, fasciculately branched at the apex, culms and branches polished, very tough. Spikelets greenish, culms and sheaths viscous and resinous at the base. Very plentiful all along the shore from Loanda to Ambriz, especially in sandy, sparsely herb- grown places ; very plentiful in the dry palm-groves of Praia de S. Thiago to the south of the river Dande ; Sept. 1858. No. 7312- Native name, Sangalala. Loanda.—Culms becoming spirally twisted or bent with age. Ubiquitous and very plentiful and remarkably social in poor sandy soil, etc., throughout the whole province of Loanda. Alto das Cruzes, May 1854. No. 7473. Called by the Portuguese and negroes, Sangalale. Exceedingly dangerous to sportsmen on account of its twine-like runners. Used in lime-burning, since on account of its great elasticity it serves as layers between the Mubanga-layers of the kiln. (Mubanga or Mubango is Acacia Welwitschii Oliv. ; see ante, vol. i., p. 310.) Seen in January 1858 at the Museque Lopes, Uha da Loanda. Nos. 7366, 73665, etc. Mossamedes.—Sandy maritime places but much rarer than in Loanda. Near the gardens, July 1859. No. 2297. Called by the inhabitants Sangalala.