1010 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [i)t'C. 2, 1908. 



Useful y\ustralian Plants. 



J. H. MAIDEN, 

 Government Botanist and Director, Botanic Gardens, Sydney. 



No. 99. Sporoboltis pidbh-ellus, R.Br. 



Botanical name. — Sporoholus, Greek, sporos, a seed, hofos, a tlirow witli a 

 casting-net, in allusion to the grains, which are on the outside of the panicle, 

 as if they had fallen or been thrown out ; jndckeUus, Latin, pretty, the grass 

 being ornamental when in tiower. It is, indeed, one of the most beautiful of 

 all grasses. 



Botanical description (B.Fl. vii, 623) : — 

 Stems tufted, 6 inches to 1 foot high. 



Leaves chiefly cat tlie base, tiat or keeled, broad or narrow, rather rigid, bordered l)y 

 rigid ciha tiiberculate at the base. (Note the remarkable cilia. See Figure 5. ) 

 PawicZf loosely pyramidal, 2 to 5 inches long, with munerous capiUaiy spreading 



branches verticillate at regular intervals. 

 Spikelfts pedicellate, not ^ line long, shining. 



Glumes almost liyaline, rather obtuse, slighlly keeled, the second outer emjjty one 

 and the flowering one nearly equal and similar, tlie lowest empty one about half 

 as long, narrow but obtuse. 

 Palea very readily splitting in two. 

 G7-nin globular, enclosed in a loose hyaline pericarp. 

 Value as a Fodder. — A useful fodder plant, but little specific information 

 as to its value is available. 



Habitat and Range. — It extends from New South Wales to northern Austra- 

 lia. As regards New South Wales, it is found in the diy north-west. 



The type came from northern Australia in the sense of somewhere between 

 the Endeavour River and the Gulf of Carpentaria. No doubt "North Coast," 

 R. Brown, and Endeavour River, Banks and Solander, as quoted by Bentham, 

 are the co- types. 



Bentham also quotes : — 

 Nort.h Austraiia.—\J])iper Victoria River, F. Mueller : Fort Darwin, Sc/nilf: No. 112 ; 



Escape Cliffs, Hulse. 

 (Queensland. — Kennedy District, Damiree ; Elliot River, /iomnan : Peak Downs, iS/a^e?-. 



The National Herbarixira, Sydney, contains co-types of this species collected 

 hy Banks and Solander and also by Robert Brown. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 



1. Entire plant. 



2. Branch of the panicle, greatly eidarged. 



3. Single sjjikelet showing the glumes, the split palea and tlie ripe grain enclosed 



in the loose pericarp. 



4. Glumes and grain of the single spikelet : 



a. Outer glume. 



b. Second glume. 



c. Flowering glume. 



d. Palea split into two. 



e. Pericarp, grain taken out. 



/. Grain without the pericarp. (Note its globular shape.) 



5. Part of the leaf, much enlarged, showing the rigid marginal hairs (cilia). 



