. The grasses and grasslands of South Africa. Botany; Grasses. 67 iulded like that uf D. clisticlia, but there is comparatively little sclereDcliyma, aud the ridges are not prominent. The â stomata are shown on the supper side. On the lower side there is very thick cuticle. The majority of the cells are seen to be packed as full as they will hold with food material. The vascular bundles are not Fig. 11.âTransverse Section of a portion of a leaf of Digiiaria ternata (x about 60). I>igl(aria. This genus is very closelj- allied to Fanicuvi. D. ternata is a common early flowering rud
. The grasses and grasslands of South Africa. Botany; Grasses. 67 iulded like that uf D. clisticlia, but there is comparatively little sclereDcliyma, aud the ridges are not prominent. The â stomata are shown on the supper side. On the lower side there is very thick cuticle. The majority of the cells are seen to be packed as full as they will hold with food material. The vascular bundles are not Fig. 11.âTransverse Section of a portion of a leaf of Digiiaria ternata (x about 60). I>igl(aria. This genus is very closelj- allied to Fanicuvi. D. ternata is a common early flowering ruderal. D. saiigiiin- alis is equally common in autumn and D. liorizontaJis is also abundant then. These are all annuals and are widely distri- buted. D. dehilis and I), tenuijloia are also annuals, but are somewhat rare, onh^ being found in Natal. D. inonodactyla, D. argjjioyrapta, I), eruudha, D. setifolia, D. diugonalis, D. tricholaenoides, I), flaccida are all perennials and belong to the primitive stages of Yeld development. None of them assume dominance except very locally, but they are common â enough, with the exception of D. argyrngi-apta and D. flaccida, which are chiefly Mountain Veld types. Some of the perennial forms are rather xerophytic with filiform or seta- â ceous leaves, , D. monodactyla and D. tietifolia, but the majority are mesophytic, and though they are common weeds in cultivated land are considered vej-v g'ood ffrazinff o-rasses. There is less sclerenchyma in their leaves than in most other South African grasses as is shown in Fig. 11, which is a cross section of the leaf of T).ternata. There is a very definite mid- rib, but the ridges are almost obsolete. Broad bands of water storage cells occur in the shallow furrows. The epidermis is thin, and there are only very small patches of sclerenchyma â above and sometimes below the main bundles. The leaf remains flat. Species of Panicuiv are similar, but show minor differences in the arrangemnt of the
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