852 GRAMINEE. — (Ehrharta. 
2. EH. Thomsoni, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xii. (1880) 356, t. 10. 
—A small densely tufted species. Culms short, stout, much 
branched, spreading, quite glabrous, 1- = ee Leaves numer- 
ous, distichous, spreading, 4—-4in. long, ;4,-4in. broad, lanceolate, 
acute, strongly nerved ; ligule reduced to a mere line; sheaths pale, 
strongly grooved. Inflorescence reduced to a short stout erect 
raceme of 2-5 spikelets, sometimes hardly longer than the leaves ; 
pedicels short, stout, often appressed to the rhachis. Spikelets 
4-1in. long, compressed. Two. outer glumes small, subequal, 
broadly oblong or rounded, obtuse, less than 4 as long as the 3rd 
and 4th respectively ; 8rd and 4th ovate-lanceolate, rigid, keeled, 
awned, 5-nerved, silky at the base, keel and awns minutely sca- 
brid. Flowering glume shorter, oblong, obtuse or subacute, 3-6- 
nerved. Palea linear. Stamens 1-2. 
SourH Istanp: Nelson—Mount Rochfort, Dr. Gaze! Townson! Otago— 
Longwood Range, Kirk! Stewart Is~tanp—Port Pegasus, Thomson and 
Petrie! Kirk! Rakiahua, P. Goyen! AuckLAND IsLtanDS—F’. &. Chapman! 
Sea-level to 4000 ft. 
A very curious and distinct little species. 
10. MICROLAENA, R. Br. 
Slender perennial grasses; culms simple or branched. Leaves 
flat or convolute when dry. Spikelets laterally compressed, 1- 
flowered, pedicellate, arranged in a narrow lax panicle; rhachilla 
disarticulating above the 2 outer glumes. Glumes 5; the 2 outer 
very small, persistent; 3rd and 4th long, narrow, produced into 
long awns, the 4th much the longest; 5th or flowering glume 
shorter, acute, not awned. Palea linear. Lodicules 2, rather large, 
thin. Stamens 4 or 2. Styles distinct; stigmas plumose. Grain 
enclosed within the flowering glume and palea but free from them. 
A small genus of 5 species, confined to Australia and New Zealand. One of 
the New Zealand species is also found in Australia, the remaining two are 
endemic. 
* The two outer glumes distant from the 3rd and 4th. 
Leaves flat, thin, 3} in. broad. Panicle 3-9 in., narrow. 
Stamens 4 5 ys 36 oe .. 1. M. stipoides. 
** The 2 outer glumes not distant from the 3rd and 4th. 
Culms not branched. Leaves broad, +-4in. Panicles 
1-2 ft., compound. Stamens 2 a .. 2. M. avenacea. 
Culms branched. Leaves pot in. broad. Panicle reduced 
to a simple raceme 1-3 in. tong, rarely branched at the 
base. Stamens4 .. : oe wa .. 3. M. polynoda. 
1. M. stipoides, &. Br. Prodr. 210.—Rhizome creeping and root- 
ing, branched. Culms numerous from the rhizome, often branched 
below, erect or ascending, slender, glabrous, 1—2ft. high or more. 
