878 GRAMINEH. [Deschampsia. 
Very close to the following species, of which it may prove to be a variety, 
and from it is mainly separated by the glabrous rhachilla and rather larger 
spikelets. 
5. D. tenella, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1891) 402.— 
Culms tufted, branched at the base, extremely slender, flaccid, 
quite smooth, leafy throughout, 6-14 in. high. Leaves bright-green, 
very narrow, capillary, involute, flaccid, the uppermost often ex- 
ceeding the young panicle ; sheaths smooth, grooved; ligules long, 
acute, membranous, broader than the blade and decurrent along 
the margins of the sheaths. Panicle very slender, 2—6in. long, con- 
tracted at first, but becoming lax and somewhat effuse ; branches in 
pairs, few, rather distant, capillary, scabrid, trichotomously divided. 
Spikelets few towards the tips of the branches, small, in. long, 
pale, glistening, 2-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, much 
shorter than the spikelet, membranous, 1-nerved or the upper 3- 
nerved ; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes broadly oblong, delicately 
hyaline, faintly 5-nerved, silky at the base, truncate at the apex 
and 3-toothed, the middle tooth often bifid, the 4th always with a 
minute dorsal awn inserted just below the apex, the 3rd frequently 
awnless. Palea bifid, 2-nerved, the nerve finely ciliate. Rhachilla 
elongated between the flowering glumes and more or less silky, 
produced above the upper flower into a silky bristle-——D. Hookeri, 
T. Kirk in Journ. Bot. xxiv. (1891) 237 (in part). Catabrosa antare- 
tica, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 8308 (but not of Fl. Antarct. i. 102) ; 
Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 418. 
NortH Istanp: Ruahine Mountains, Colenso! Tararua Mountains, 
H. H. Travers! SoutH Istanp: Nelson—Mount Arthur, 4. McKay! Otago 
—Near Dunedin, Catlin’s River, Clinton Saddle, Petrie! Sea -level to 
4500 ft. 
This differs from both D. nove-zealandie and D. Chapmani in the silky 
rhachilla, and from the former in addition in the dorsal awn being present in at 
least the upper flower. It varies greatly in the size of the spikelets and in the 
proportionate length of the outer glumes. Mr. Petrie’s original specimens from 
Catlin’s River have the spikelets barely more than j#,in. long, and the upper 
outer glume is not half the length of the spikelet ; but those from the Clinton 
Valley, and Mr. Colenso’s from the Ruahine Range, have much larger spikelets 
with longer outer glumes. 
6. D. gracillima, 7. Kirk in Journ. Bot. xxiv. (1891) 237.— 
Culms tufted, usually with intravaginal branches near the base, 
erect, slender, glabrous, 2-8 in. high. Leaves towards the base of 
the culms and much shorter than them, strict, erect, very narrow, 
setaceous or filiform, convolute; sheaths rather lax, grooved ; 
ligules long, membranous, usually split at the tip. Panicle erect, 
ovate or deltoid, open, 3-2 in. long; branches few, binate, capillary, 
smooth or almost so. Spikelets 4-41in. long, on pedicels longer 
than themselves, 2-Aowered. Two outer glumes unequal, 3-nerved, 
shorter than the spikelet; 3rd and 4th or flowering glumes densely 
