854 GRAMINEX. [ Microlena. 
3-9 in. long, ;4,-} in. broad, linear, finely acuminate, flat, striate, 
margins scaberulous; sheaths smooth, grooved; ligules short, 
with a few long hairs on each side. Panicle usually reduced to a 
simple raceme 1-24in. long with few spikelets, but sometimes 
3-84 in., the lower portion with 1 or 2 short erect 2-3-spiculate 
branches. Spikelets narrow, compressed, $—-3in. long with the 
awns. Two lowest glumes small, whitish, many times less than 
the 3rd and 4th, not separated from them by a distinct interspace, 
the lowest 4 the length of the 2nd; 3rd and 4th narrow, unequal, 
empty, awned, rough and scabrous on the sides and awn, hairy at 
the base. Flowering glume shorter than the 4th, acuminate, 5—7- 
nerved. Palea linear, l-nerved. Stamens 4.—Buch. N.Z. Grasses, 
t. 4. M. ramosissima, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 105. 
Diplax polynoda, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 290. 
Nort Istanp: Auckland—Whangarei Heads, 7. #. C.; Great Barrier 
Island, Kirk! Cabbage Bay, Adams ; Coromandel, T. F. C.; Thames, Kirk ; 
Te Aroha, Adams. Hawke’s Bay—Dannevirke, base of the Ruahine Range, 
Colenso! SourH Istanp: Nelson—Motueka Valley, 7. F. C. Canterbury— 
Armstrong. Otago—Near Dunedin, Buchanan! Petrie ! Sea-level to 1500 ft. 
December—January. 
11. HIEROCHLOBE, Gmel. 
Erect sweet-scented perennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets 
in an open or close panicle, laterally compressed, shining, with 
1 terminal hermaphrodite flower and 1-2 male flowers below it. 
Giumes 5; 2 outer empty, equal or nearly so, acute, keeled, 
scarious, 1-3-nerved; 3rd and 4th subsimilar, often shortly awned, 
each enclosing a narrow palea and usually 3 stamens; dth rather 
smaller, obtuse or mucronate, 5-nerved, enclosing a hermaphrodite 
flower and a linear 1—2-nerved palea. Lodicules 2. Styles free; 
stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, free within the slightly indurated 
flowerig glume and palea. 
Species 12 or 13, distributed throughout the temperate and frigid zones of 
both hemispheres. All the species have a vanilla-like fragrance when drying. 
Of the three found in New Zealand, one is widely spread in the south tem- 
perate zone, another extends to Victoria and Tasmania, the third is endemic 
in the Auckland Islands. 
* Two outer glumes about equal to the florets. 
Culms 2-3 ft. Leaves long, +4 in. broad. Spikelets 
din. long; outer glumes equalling or slightly exceeding 
the florets .. a2 ee : a3 a 
Culms 6-18in. Leaves short, ;4-tin. broad. Spike- 
lets tin. long; outer glumes usually slightly shorter 
than the florets ate oe 3¢ 
1. H. redolens. 
2. H. Fraseri. 
** Two outer glumes much longer than the florets. 
Culms 1-2ft. Leaves involute, subcoriaceous. Spike- 
lets din. long i os 4 3. H. Brunonis. 
