876 GRAMINE. [Deschampsia. 
3-nerved; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes equalling the empty 
glumes or rarely exceeding them, truncate, 4-toothed, silky at the 
base, the 4th separated from the 3rd by a distinct hairy internode, 
sometimes absent so that the spikelet becomes 1-flowered ; awn 
from the middle of the back or below it, not twisted at the base or 
obscurely so, usually not far exceeding its glume. MRhachilla pro- 
duced into a distinct hairy pedicel above the 4th glume.—AHook. f. 
Fl. Nov. Zel.i. 801; #l.. Tasm..ii. 118; Handb. N.4.4 Hineoes 
Benth. Fl. Austral. vu. 587; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 37. Aira 
cespitosa, Linn. Sp. Plant. 64. A. Kingii, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. ii. 
376, t. 185. A. australis, Raoul, Chow, 12. Agrostis aucklandica, 
Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1. 96. 
NorrH anp SoutH IsLAnps, StEwaRT IsLAND, CHATHAM IsLANDS, AUCK- 
LAND IsLANDS: Wet places from the Lower Waikato southwards, plentiful. 
Sea-level to 3500 ft. 
An abundant grass in all cool and temperate regions. The New Zealand 
form has the spikelets rather larger and the awn of the flowering glume inserted 
somewhat higher up than is usual in northern specimens, and is distinguished 
as var. macrantha by Hackel. 
2. D. pusilla, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 403.— 
Culms densely tufted, branched at the base, 1-2 in. high, forming 
small compact patches. Leaves numerous, shorter than the 
culms, setaceous, curved, convolute; sheaths broad, membranous, 
grooved; ligules large for the size of the plant, acute, much broader 
than the blade, decurrent along the margins of the sheath. Panicle 
small, contracted, sometimes almost spiciform, straw - yellow, 
shining, +-3in. long; branches few, short, small, the lowermost 
bearing 2-3 spikelets, the upper 1 only. Spikelets Zin. long, 
2-flowered, rarely 3-flowered. Two outer glumes almost equal in 
length, hyaline, the lower narrower, 1-nerved, the 2nd 3-nerved ; 
8rd and 4th or flowering glumes faintly silky or almost glabrous 
at the base, broadly oblong, hyaline, indistinctly 5-nerved, trun- 
cate, irregularly 3-toothed or erose, awnless or with a minute 
dorsal awn inserted just below the tip. Palea as long as the 
glume, deeply bifid, 2-nerved. Rhachilla elongated between the 
flowering glumes and produced beyond the upper flower into a 
short bristle, quite glabrous. 
SourH IsLAND: Otago—Hector Mountains, Petrie! Humboldt Mountains, 
Cockayne ! 5000-6500 ft. 
A very remarkable little plant, quite distinct from any of the following 
species. 
3. D. novee-zealandiz, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 
402.—Culms densely tufted, branched at the base, slender, smooth, 
leafy below, 3-9in. high, rarely more. Leaves from 4 to $ the 
length of the culms, very narrow, setaceous, involute; sheaths 
