Echinopogon. | GRAMINEA. 859 
broad, thin, 5-nerved, 3-lobed at the tip, the lateral lobes short 
and acute, the middle one produced into a straight stiff awn. 
Palea shorter than the flowering glume, narrow, 2-nerved. Lodi- 
cules 2. Stamens 38. Styles distinct; stigmas shortly plumose. 
Grain free within the flowering glume. 
The genus is confined to the following species, which has a wide range in 
Australia as well as in New Zealand. 
1. E. ovatus, Beauv. Agrost. 42, t. 9.—Culms laxly tufted, 
decumbent at the base, erect above, slender, stiff, minutely 
scabrid above, 9-24in. high. Leaves 1-6in. long, 4-1+in. broad, 
flat, striate, margins and both surfaces harsh and scabrid; sheaths 
rather long, closely appressed, deeply striate, scabrid with reversed 
projections; ligule short, membranous, lacerate. Spike-like panicle 
varying in size from 4-14 in. long, ovoid-globose to narrow-oblong, 
bristling with the long awns; branches short, densely packed. 
Spikelets compressed, ;4—$1n. long without the awns. Two outer 
glumes subequal, lanceolate, acute, sharply keeled, keel very pro- 
minent, green, ciliate ; 3rd or flowering glume equalling or slightly 
exceeding the empty glumes, broad, furnished at the base with a 
pencil of silky hairs, awn rigid, scabrous, +4 in. long. Palea linear- 
oblong, 2-nerved, with a hairy bristle-like continuation of the rha- 
chilla at its back.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 298; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 
320; Benth. Fl. Austral. vii. 599; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 138. 
Agrostis ovata, Morst. Prodr. n. 40; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 128; 
A. Cunn. Precur. n. 247; Raoul, Choiz, 39. Cinna ovata, Kunth, 
Enum. i. 208. Hystericina alopecuroides, Steud. Syn. Pl. Gram. 
35. 
NortH sand Sours Istanps: Not uncommon in dry places throughout. 
Sea-level to 2500 ft. 
14. ALOPECURUS, Linn. 
Annual or perennial grasses. Leaves flat. Spikelets strongly 
laterally compressed, 1-flowered, densely crowded in a cylindric 
spike-lke panicle, articulated on the top of the very short pedicels. 
Glumes 3; the 2 outer subequal, often connate below, sharply 
keeled, acute or obtuse, not awned, often fringed on the keels; 
5rd or flowering glume about as long as the outer glumes, con- 
volute, hvaline, usually with a slender bent dorsal awn. Palea gene- 
rally wanting. Lodicules absent. Stamens 2 or 3. Styles distinct 
or connate. Grain laterally compressed, free within the flowering 
glume and palea. 
Species about 20, in the temperate and cool regions of both hemispheres, 
several of them excellent fodder-grasses. The single New Zealand species is 
widely distributed. 
1. A. geniculatus, Linn. Sp. Plant. 60.—Culms creeping and 
rooting at the base, erect above, rather slender, glabrous, 9-18 in. 
