Vetrie.— On Nciu Native Plants. 403 



the middle one most distinct ; palea shortly bifid, with two 

 faint sub-median ciliated nerves ; rachilla glabrous, produced 

 to nearly half the length of the upper flow'er ; grain broadly 

 oblong, rounded, not flattened or constricted. 



Hah. Hector Mountains, 4,000ft. to 6,000ft. ; Mount Ar- 

 nould (Upper Hawea), 5,000ft. ; Mount Cardrona, 5,000ft. ; 

 in very moist situations, chiefly by the sides of small water- 

 courses fringed by bog. 



8. Dcsclunnpsia pusilla, sp. nov. 



Culms very short, densely tufted, branched at the base, 

 twice as long as the leaves. 



Leaves about lin. long ; sheatlis broad, grooved, ]nem- 

 brauous, produced into a long lanceolate acuminate scarious 

 ligule ; blade narrow-linear, sub-terete, channelled above, 

 striate. 



Panicle contracted and spiciform; branches solitary, short, 

 glabrous, each bearing three, or fewer, sub-sessile shining 

 spikelets. 



Spikelets -Jin. long, ;2- (rarely 3-) flowered. Outer glumes 

 sub-equal, as long as the spikelet, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 hyaline, one-nerved ; flowering glume silky at the base, shortly 

 oblong, truncate, cut at the apex into 3 to 5 teeth, hyaline, 

 obscurely one-nerved (the nerve being really the adnate de- 

 current awn), often with a short stout median mucro or awn, 

 usually terminal but occasionally sub-dorsal in position. 

 Palea hyaline, deeply bifid, with two very faint ciliate sub- 

 median nerves. Rachilla slender, glabrous, half the length of 

 the upper flower. 



77'W.. Hector Mountains, G,000ft. 



9. Note on Triodia antayctica, Benth. and Hook. f. 



This grass, originally described and figured by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, in vol. i. of the "Flora Antarctica," under the name 

 of Catahrosa antarctica, has been removed from that genus 

 and placed dou])tfully under Triodia. As to the propriety of 

 the change, I shall have something to say below ; but I may 

 here point out that it is evidently a close ally of the four 

 species of Deschampsia described in the present paper. As I 

 have never seen any specimen of the grass, which grov.s on 

 Campbell Island and appears to be very rare, I refrain from 

 renaming it ; but, if my view of the Dcscluimpsias described 

 a,bove is accepted, the Campbell Island grass will form another 

 species of that genus. The plant figured in Buchanan's " In- 

 digenous Grasses of New Zealand " as Catahrosa antarctica. 

 Hook, f., is almost certainly a form of Dcschampsia tenella, 

 mihi. 



