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FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Gramineæ.
branches conspicuous and few-flowered, almost covered with the long flexuous awns. Glumes very long, slender,
acuminate, scabrid at tbe keel, longer than the flowers by one-half or one-third. Lower palea long, scabrous, hard,
with a contracted, narrow, entire or bifid point, and a dorsal awn, which is flexuous, and not twisted, inserted above
the middle. Upper palea shorter, narrow, membranous, bifid at the tip.—This curious plant differs from Dickel-
achie in the awn not being twisted, from Agrostis in the pedicelled flower, from Muhlenhergia in the long glumes.
T have followed Trinius and Ruprecht by placing it in the first-named genus, but I have retained the original specific
name crinita, which is most appropriate aud familiar, and used by Brown, Labillardiere, Forster, and Linnæus.
MM. Trinius and Ruprecht, on the other hand, substitute that of vulgaris for the Australian specimens, and Forste-
riana for the New Zealand ones, besides making other species from Australian and Tasmanian specimens.
2. Dichelacline sciurea, Hook. fil. ; lævis v. culmis basi vagiuis foliisque scaberulis, foliis planis v.
involutis, panicula elongata laxa rariflora, glumis inæqualibus acuminatis fiorem vix superautibus, arista
tortili palea inferiore scaberula subtriplo longiore.—Agrostis sciurea, Br. Prodr. D. Sieberiana, Trin.
et Rupr. Act. Acad. Scient. Petrop. I. c. Muhlenbergia, Trin. Biss. Stipa micrantha, Nees, Biar. Ratisb.
fid. Trin. et Rup.^
Hab. Northern Island; Bay of Islands and Auckland, Cunningham, Colenso, Sinclair, etc.
A different-looking plant from B. crinita, but very closely allied to it, differing in the slender, thin panicle,
which is loosely branched, and comparatively very few-flowered. The glumes are shorter than in B. crinita, as
long as the floret, and the twisted awn is not four times longer than the upper palea. It is also a Tasmanian and
Australian plant. I feel again reluctantly compelled to reject MM. Trinius and Ruprecht’s specific name of Siehe-
riana, which those authors substitute for the applicable and familiar one of sciurea, by which this plant has been
known for thirty years to the Australian Botanist.
3. Dichelachne stipoides. Hook. fil. ; cæspitosa, glaberrima, polita, foliis elongatis strictis setaceo-
involutis, panicula erecta contracta pauciflora parce ramosa, glumis lævibus longe setaceo-acuminatis flos-
culum ^ excedentibus, paleis subcoriaceis inferiore sericeo-villosa, arista geniculata glaberrima flosculo bis
terve longiore.—Avena angustifolia, Banhs et Sol. MSS. (Tab. LXVI.)
H ab . Northern Island, on rocks near the sea; East Coast, Banks and Solander ; Bay of Islands
and Auckland, Sinclair, etc.
Also found in Tasmania, growing, as in New Zealand, near the sea.—A handsome, densely tufted, rigid, wiry,
smooth and, polished, yellow Grass, often forming large tussocks, with the habit and appearance of a Stipa. Culms
lg -3 feet high. Leaves longer than the culms, slender, involute, wiry, erect, rounded. Panicle contracted, 4-6
inches long, strict, erect, few-flowered, and sparingly branched ; branches short, capillary, erect. Glumes A-A inch
long, white or yellow, membranous, thin and shining, lanceolate, with a long, slender point. Floret shorter than
the glumes, covered with soft, silky, spreading hairs. Palea rather coriaceous ; lower with two small teeth at the
top, one on each side the awn, which is curved, about an inch long, and quite glabrous.—Plate LXVI. Fig. 1,
spikelet ; 2, floret ; 3, tip of lower palea ; 4, stamen ; 5, pistil and scale ; 6, caryopsis and scales :—all magnified.
Gen. XI. APERA, .
! 1 -floræ; flore breviter pedicellato. Glumce subæquales, flore longiores, muticæ v. breviter
aristatæ; arista baud tortili. Palea herbaceæ, demum induratæ, inferior ad apicem integrum aristata.
Squamula 2, membranaceæ. Caryopsis libera.—Gramina cæspitosa, plerumque gracilia; culmis sape
ramosis; spiculis pedicellatis, paniculatis, non articulatis.
Generally slender, often branched Grasses, the few previously known species of which are natives of Europe
and North America. Panicles diffuse. Glumes nearly equal, as long as the flower, which has a very sliort pedicel.
Palea herbaceous, afterwards hardening ; lower with a terminal, not twisted awn, and entire apex. (Derivation of
the name not known to me.)
Gramineæ?]
1. Apera arundinacea. Hook, f il; glaberrima, lævis, rhizomate repente, culmis basi squamatis
elongatis gracilibus strictis rigidis tenacissimis simplicibus v. ad nodos remotos ramosis foliosis, foliis supeme
scaberulis involutis coriaceis vaginis elongatis, pamcula elongata ramis capillaribus primariis verticillatis,
spiculis parvis pallidis, glumis setaceo-acuminatis superiore obscure 3-nervi, carinis scaberulis, flore breviter
stipitato callo glaberrimo, palea inferiore coriacea involuta nervis obscuris apice scaberula obtusa incrassata
aristata, arista caduca terminali scabra glumis duplo longiore, superiore paulo breviore bidentata, squamulis
2 basi connatis, stamine 1, anthera brevi. (Tab. LXVII.)
FIab. Northern and Middle Islands ; Cape Turnagain, Colenso; Akaroa, Raoul. Nat. name, “ Hu-
nangamoho,” Col.
A very remarkable and handsome Grass, forming immense tufts of long, nodding culms on the tops of hills,
etc.—Culms 2-5 feet bigh, very slender, rigid and reed-like, arising from a creeping rhizome, quite smooth, sheathed
at the base, leafy at the distant joints, and sometimes branched. Sheaths of leaves long; ligula short, truncate;
lamina coriaceous, narrow, involute, the upper surface slightly scabrid to the touch. Panicle thin, erect, wiry,
8-16 inches long; primary branches whorled at the knotted joints, capillary, the branchlets whorled, pedicels
alternate. Spikelets minute, Ig line long, pale, shining. Glumes nearly equal, longer than the flower, acuminate,
smooth, with a scabrid keel, upper faintly three-nerved. Lower palea coriaceous, opaque, on a short glabrous callus,
thickened and rough at the top, blunt, furnished with a rigid, caducous, scabrid awn. Scales two, linear, connate
at the base. Stamen one. Anther short. Ovary pedicelled, with short feathery stigmas. Caryopsis curved, truncate.—
P late LXVIL Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, floret; 3, upper palea; 4, stamen; 5, germen; 6, scales; 7, seed:—
all magnified.
Gen. X II. SPOROBOLUS, Br.
' 1-floræ, carinatæ, inferior minor. Palea 2, muticæ t inferior acntiuscula; superior minor,
bicarinata. Squamula 2. Stamma 2-3. Caryopsis libera, epicarpio laxo solubili.—Folia plana v. convo-
luta. Spiculæ minuta, pedicellata, laxe v. dense paniculata ; panicula interdum spicaformis.
Tropical and subtropical Grasses, found in all parts of the world within the above limits, differing from Apera
in the very minute flowers that have awnlcss glumes and paleæ. Spikelets panicled, often very densely, fonning a
cylindrical spike. Glumes one-flowered, keeled, the lower smallest. Palea two, awnless, lower sharji, upper two-
nerved. Scales two. two to three. quite free, with a loose outer coat. (Name from o-Tropos, a ieeiZ,
and (3o\o<s, a shedding ; from the fugacious seeds.)
1. Sporobolus elongatus, Br. ; pauicula coarctata elongata e spicis alternis divisis, inferioribus distau-
tibus.—Br. Prodr. p . 170. Kunth, Agrost. p . 213.
H ab . Northern Island; Auckland,
A rigid, stout, perfectly smooth Grass, 1-2 feet high ; abundant in all tropical conntries, also found at the
Cape of Good Hope and at Port Jackson. Leaves spreading; sheaths deeply furrowed; ligula short; lamina
narrow, involute. Panicle 6 inches to a foot long, contracted, slender, of very numerous, small, pide green spikelets,
g line long.
Gen. X III. AGROSTIS, L.
Glum.a 2, unifloræ, subæquales, carinatæ, muticæ, flore majores. Palea 2 : inferior mutica v. dorso
aristata; arista baud tortili; superior bicarinata, interdum minima v. obsoleta. Squamula 2, subintegræ.
Stamina 3. Caryopsis libera.—Gramina caspitosa ; foliis planis involutisve; paniculis diffuse ramosis;
ramis sæpius verticUlaiis, rarius brevibus in spicam cylindraceam confertis.
A large geuus of Grasses, most abundant in temperate and cold climates, advancing nearer to either Pole thau
any other phæuogamic plants do. Culms often tufted. Leaves flat or involute. Panicles lax or dense; branches