Beauv. Dautlionia, Spreng. D. pallida, A , Cunn. Prodr, et Herb, non B r . Avena Forsteri, Kunth?
Agrost. (Tab. L X Y I I I . B .)
H ab. N o rth e rn and Middle Is la n d s ; ab u n d an t as far south as Banks’ Peninsula , B a n k s a n d Solander,
etc.
A very elegant Grass, confined to New Zealand, as far as is hitherto known.— Culm tufted, 1-2 feet long,
strict and erect, weaker in wooded localities, smooth, shining. Leaves narrow, setaceous or elongated, quite smooth
or rough to the touch. Panicle slender, erect, contracted or rather diffuse, always narrow ; branches short. Spikelets
4 inch long, flat, white and glistening, three- or foui'-flowered ; conspicuous for the refiexed awns. Glumes unequal,
acuminate, shorter than the florets, scabrid at the back. Pedicels of the fiorets short or long, with long white
scattered hairs. Lower palea scabrous, bifid, with a glabrous recurved awn; twice as long as the floret.—P late
LXVIH. B. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, floret; 3, scale; 4, ovary magnified.
Obs. Trisetum subspicatum, Pal. Beauv., a veiy common plaut iu all cold and mountainous countries of Europe,
Asia, and America, and also found in Tasmania, Fuegia, aud in Campbell’s Islaud, probably grows on the lofty
New Zealand mountains : it has a dense spiked panicle, and generally downy or woolly culm and leaves.
Gen. X X . D A N TH O N IA , DC.
Spiculoe 2 -S -flo ræ ; floribus distichis, summo tabescente. Glumæ 2, subcariuatæ, muticæ, subæquales,
flores æquantes v. superantes. Paleæ 2 : inferior barbata, concava, multinervis, apice bifida, in ter
lacinias muticas v. aristato-snbulatas a rista ta ; arista basi complanata, to rta v. brevissima, recta.
2, integræ, glabræ v. pilosæ, Ovarium stipitatum. Caiyopsis compressa, libéra.— Gramina t
rumque r ig id a ; p la n is v. in v o lu tis; spiculis majusculis,pedicellatis, racemosis v .p a n icu la tis .
Generally harsh, tufted Grasses, growing in dry soils and climates, as in Australia, South Africa, and the South
of Europe.—Leaves flat or involute. Panicles rather contracted, of few large often shining spikelets. Plowers two
or more, the upper often imperfect. Glumes two, awnless, nearly equal, as long as or longer than the flowers. Lower
palea concave, many-nerved, bearded, bifid at the point, with a long or short, flattened, twisted awn. Ovary smooth,
stipitate. Seed compressed. (Name in honour of M. Danthoine, a Frencli botanist.)
1 . Dantlionia antárctica. Hook, fil.; elata, rìgida, culmis basi crassis, foliis culmo longioribus crassis
coriaceisque inferioribus basi in tn s sericeis, lig u la villosa, costa valida, panicula maxima effusa, ramis
elongatis, pedicellis sericeis, spiculis (magnitudine variis) 4-7 -fio ris albidis nitidis, glumis inæqualibus,
flosculis distantibus multo brevioribus acutis apice integris erosis bidentatis, palea inferiore sericeo-villosa
bifida, arista recta v. recurva palea duplo longiorebasi compressa.—’Bromus antarcticus, Plora A ntarc t.
p . 97. t. 54. Arundo flavescens. B a n k s et Sol. M S S .
Var. a. elata ; culmis validis, foliis coriaceis latiusculis in tu s basi sericeis, panicula densiflora, spiculis
majusculis.
Var. la x iflo ra ; elata, culmis foliisque u t in var. a, panicnla rariflora.— Agrostis pilosa, A . Cunn.
Prodr. fld . Herb. Reward, non A . R ich . Flor. (Tab. L X IX . A.)
Var. 7 . parviflora ; spiculis minoribus sparsis.
Var. 8. minor ; glaberrima, culmis brevioribus, foliis setaceo-involutis, panicula pauciflora.
H ab. N o rth e rn and Middle Islands, B a n k s a n d Solander, e tc .; top of th e Rnalune range, Colemo,
Sinclair, etc. Var. 7 . Southern Island, F r . L ya ll.
A tall and very handsome Grass, but variable in size and liabit, number of spikelets, breadth of leaves, their
texture and hqjriness, denseness of panicle and length of glumes.— Culms 3 -5 feet high, often as tbick as the thumb
at the base. Leaves longer than the culm, rigid, coriaceous, with a very thick midrib, furrowed ; sheaths glabrous ;
ligula a transverse villous line; lamina usually silky towards the base on the upper surface. Panicle a span to a
foot long, yellow, much branched ; branches a foot long, or short, slender, often downy or silky. Spikelets white,
very shining, i - | - inch long, five- io seven-flowered. Glumes unequal, acute, erose or toothed at the tip. Florets
on a silky rachis, inch long. Lower palea deeply bifid, seven-nerved, very silky, especially at the base and
margins, with long shining hairs ; awn twice as long as the palea, straight or recurved, very flat below, seldom and
only sparingly twisted. Ovary quite glabrous.—This Grass, which is a native of Lord Auckland’s Group, is figured
and erroneously referred to Bromus in the ‘ Flora Antarctica,’ from which genus it is to be distinguished by the
awn being sometimes twisted and by the ovary being glabrous. Cunningham refers the var. laxiflora to Agrostis,
though his specimens have four or five florets.
2. Danthonia rigida, E a o u l; rigida, elata, vaginis subsericeis, foliis involutis glabris, panicula ampla
glabra, glumis 3-floris lanceolatis acuminatis flosculis æquilongis, palea inferiore dorso marginibus basique
sericea profunde bifida, arista basi compressa to rta .— Ra o u l, Choix de Plantes, p . 1 2 . (Tab. L X IX . A.)
H ab. Middle Islan d : Akaroa, on stony mountains, Raoul.
I have only an imperfect specimen of this from M. Eaoul, which closely resembles the last in habit and general
appearance, and may prove a variety of it ; but it differs in the longer glumes, fewer florets, and less silky paleæ, as
also, according to M. Eaoul’s description, in the silky sheaths of tbe leaves.—P l a t e LXIX. A . Fig. 1, spikelet ;
2, floret; 3, scale; 4, ovary;—all magnifled.
3. Danthonia bromoides. Hook, fil.; g lab errima ,'fo liis culmo longioribus involutis, collo barbato,
pauicula lanceolata contracta, ramis pubescentibus, spiculis magnis 6-floris, flosculis glumis ovato-lanceolatis
acutis multo longioribus supremis incompletis, rach i villosa, palea inferiore dorso basique sericeo-pilosa
superne p uberula apice breviter bicuspidata, arista re c ta basi plana palea subduplo longiore, palea superiore
carinis scabris, ovario glaberrimo, squamulis obovatis ciliatis. (Tab. L X V I I I . A.)
H ab. N o rth e rn Islan d , Stephenson.
Unlike the other species in general appearance, and more resembling Bromus mollis, but the ovary appears
perfectly glabrous.— Culms a foot or so high, quite smooth and glabrous. Leaves involute, longer than the culm,
numerous, glabrous, except at tbe ligula, which is represented by silky hairs. Panicle 4 -5 inclies long, contracted;
branches downy. Spikelets yellow-green, not shining, f- inch long (without the awns), six- or seven-flowered ; rachis
silky. Glumes unequal, ovate-lanceolate, acute, much shorter than the spikelet. Lower palea with long silky hairs
at the base, margin, and back, smooth or faintly downy above; its summit split into two cuspidate conniving points ;
awn twice as long as the palea, straight, flattened below. Upper palea shortly bifid, nearly as long as the lower,
with long silky hairs at the base and margins, and two scabrid keels. Scales obcuneate or obovate, ciliated with
long liairs. Anthers linear, elongate. Ovary quite glabrous.—I have only two specimens of this, and hence some
allowance must be made for probable variations in size and hah'iness of parts.—P l a t e LXVIII. A . Fig, I, floret;
2, upper palea; 3, scale; 4, stamen; 5, ovary:—all magnfled.
4 . Dantlionia pilosa, Yx. ; culmis foliis setaceis vaginisque plus minusve molliter laxe p a ten tim pilosis,
panicula coarctata lanceolata, spiculis C-floris glumis b re tio rib u s, palea inferiore basi medioque barbata,
fasciculis superioribus pilorum raris brevibus, aristis lateralibus elongatis palea longioribus, glumis inclusis
exsertisve intermedia to rta flosculo bis te r longiore.— B r . Prodr. Trin. Sp. Gram. v. 1. t. 51.
H ab. N’orth e ru and Middle Islands : Bay of Islan d s, etc., Sinclair, etc. ; Canterbury, Lya ll.
A slender, tufted, rigid, wiry Grass.—Leaves setaceous, aud culms (a span to 2 feet high) more or less covered
with long scattered hairs. Panicle contracted, lanceolate or ovate, pale-green, 1-g—3 inches long. Spikelets erect,
shining, with brown exserted awiis, six-flowered, | inch long. Glumes longer thau the florets. Loioer palea with
a tuft of silky hairs at the base, and a few small tufts above the middle ; lateral awns twice as long as the palea, as
long or longer than the glumes, half as long as the twisted middle awn.—A veiy common Tasmaniaa plant, also
found at Port Jackson.
5. Danthonia gracilis. Hook. fil. ; foliis filiformi-setaceis culmisque gracilibus patentim pilosis, panicula
subsimplici elongata contracta pauciflora, glumis sub-4-floris flosculis longioribus, palea inferiore basi