6. Trichanthecium eickii (Mez) Zuloaga, comb. nov.

Panicum eickii Mez (1921: 185) .

Type:— TANZANIA. Usambara, E. Eick 113 (holotype B [10_0591779!], isotype US [00148463!] [fragment ex B]) . Fig. 7

Perennial, not tufted, culms decumbent at base, then erect, 5–30 cm long; internodes cylindrical, 1–5 cm long, hollow, glabrous; nodes brownish, glabrous. Sheaths striate, 3–5 cm long, usually longer than the internodes, the margins ciliate, otherwise glabrous. Ligule membranous, 0.7 mm long, hyaline. Blades lanceolate, 1–5(–6.5) × 0.2–0.4 cm, flat, rounded at base, acuminate, glabrous or sparsely pilose. Inflorescence a contracted, terminal and exserted panicle, 1.5–2(–6) × 2–4 cm; peduncle cylindrical, up to 20 cm long, glabrous, pulvini glabrous; main axis wavy, glabrous, first-order branches alternate, axis of the branches flexuous, glabrous, spikelets solitary and appressed on first- and second-order branches, pedicels flexuous, 1–5 mm long, glabrous. Spikelets long ovoid, 2–3 × 0.9–1 mm, greenish, glumes and lower lemma strongly nerved; lower glume 2.6–2.8 mm long, almost as long as the spikelet, 3(–5)-nerved, acuminate, glabrous, membranous; upper glume as long as the spikelet, 7-nerved, glabrous, membranous, acuminate; lower lemma glumiform, 2.6–2.7 mm long, 5–7-nerved, glabrous, membranous, acute; lower palea elliptic, 2.4–2.5 × 0.8 mm, hyaline, glabrous; lower flower staminate. Upper anthecium narrowly ovoid, 2.4–2.5 × 0.8 mm, indurate, smooth, glabrous, shiny. Caryopsis not seen.

Distribution and habitat: — Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, growing in rocky open soils, at 2300– 2900 m elevation.

Representative specimens examined: — MALAWI. Mt. Mulanje, Chambe Plateau, Wiehe N/344 (K) . RWANDA. Foret de Nyungwe, sommet du mont Ibigugu, 4 March 1952, Bouxin 1358 (P) . TANZANIA. Makete District. Kitulo Plateau, 32 km E of the turnoff of Mbeya-Tukuyu road, 2850 m, 27 June 1996, Faden et al. 96/427 (BR, US) ; Bezirk Morogoro: Uluguru-Gebirge, Westseite, 20 February 1933, Schlieben 3521 (BR) . ZIMBABWE. Chimanimani Mountains, 29 December 1957, Goodier & Phipps 189 (K) .