Isachne.} GRAMINES. 847 
the empty glumes, equal or the lower larger, convex or almost 
hemispherical, subcoriaceous. Palea as long as the flowering 
glume. Lodicules very minute. Stamens 3, rarely more. Grain 
free within the hardened glume and palea, generally falling away 
with them. 
Species about 20, widely spread in most tropical or subtropical regions. 
The single New Zealand species ranges through Australia to India and China. 
1. I. australis, &. Br. Prodr. 196.—Culms slender, creeping or 
decumbent at the base, ascending above, glabrous or nearly so, 
6-18 in. high. Leaves short, 2-6 in. long, 4-+in. broad, lanceolate 
or linear-lanceolate, acute, flat, minutely rough on both surfaces, 
margins scaberulous; sheaths smooth, ciliate at the mouth and on 
the margins above. Panicle erect, usually open, ovoid or pyra- 
midal in outline, 2-4in. long; branches numerous, sparingly 
divided, very slender, flexuose, minutely scaberulous. Spikelets 
all pedicelled, small, globose or nearly so, obtuse, about 54, in. long. 
Empty glumes membranous, glabrous, many-nerved. Flowering 
glumes firm and coriaceous, unequal in size; the lower much the 
larger, smooth, shining; upper sometimes minutely pubescent. 
Lower flower usually male; upper female. Palea coriaceous like 
the flowering glume.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 291; Handb. N.Z. 
Fl. 324; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 625; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 12. 
Nortu Isuanp: Abundant in swamps from the North Cape to the Hast 
Cape, Lake Taupo, and Taranaki. Sea-level to 1800 ft. 
Greedily eaten by cattle. In summer and autumn it often affords a large 
amount of nutritious pasturage in swampy districts. 
5. PANICUM, Linn. 
Annual or perennial grasses, of very various habit. Spikelets 
lanceolate to ovate or broadly oblong, rarely globose, acuminate 
or acute or obtuse, articulate on the pedicel, laxly or densely 
paniculate, or very shortly pedicelled along one side of slender 
simple or branched spikes, seldom awned, glabrous or pubes- 
cent, never with bristles or spines at the base, with a single 
terminal hermaphrodite flower, sometimes with a male one below 
it. Glumes 4; the lowermost small, sometimes minute, empty; 
the 2nd and 3rd unequal or subequal, membranous, awnless or 
rarely awned, empty or the 3rd containing a male or rudimentary 
flower; 4th or flowering glume shorter or as long as the 3rd, 
firmer and more coriaceous, hardening in fruit. Palea like the 
flowering glume but smaller, 2-nerved. Lodicules 2. Grain en- 
closed in the hardened flowering glume and palea, oblong or ellip- 
soid; hilum punctiform. 
As characterized above, this is a heterogeneous assemblage of about 300 
species, found in all warm climates, but rare or absent in temperate countries. 
