880 GRAMINES. [| Trisetum. 
at the base. Palea strongly 2-nerved, 2-toothed. Stamens 3. 
Styles very short, distinct; stignias plumose. Grain enclosed 
within the flowering glume and palea, free. 
A genus of about 60 species, most plentiful in the north temperate zone, 
but also found on the high mountains of the tropics and in South America and 
Australasia. One of the New Zealand species is widely spread, the rest are 
endemic. 
* Awn at least as long as the glume, inserted on the back a little distance 
below the tip. 
Glabrous or sparsely pubescent, 6-24in. Panicle 2-10in., 
rather lax. Empty glumes lanceolate, unequal .. 1. T. antarcticum.™ 
Pilose, 2-8 ft. Panicle 2-10 in., very slender. Empty 
glumes oblong or oblong-obovate, subequal .. -- 2. DT. Youmgu: 
Puberulous or tomentose, 2-12in. Panicle dense, cylin- 
dric, 4-21n. $e an uf. iP .. 3. T. subspicatum. 
** Awn very short, from between the terminal teeth of the glume. 
Puberulous, 6-12in. Panicle dense, cylindric, 1-3 in. 
Teeth of flowering glumes short BA “2 .. 4, T. Cheesemanii. 
1. T. antarcticum, Trin. im Mem. Acad. Petersb. Sér. vi. 1 (1831) 
61.—Perennial, very variable in size and degree of robustness. 
Culms tufted, slender, smooth or sparsely pubescent, 6—24 in. high. 
Leaves usually shorter than the culms, narrow, ;4—4 in. broad, flat 
or involute, flaccid, smooth or the margins finely scaberulous ; 
sheaths long, narrow, grooved; ligules short, truncate, hyaline, 
ciliolate. Panicle very variable, erect or inclined, contracted or 
rather lax, usually narrow, rarely broad and effuse, 1-10 in. long ; 
branches short, slender, suberect, simple or again divided. Spike- 
lets compressed, pale-green or brownish- green, shining, 2-3- 
flowered, rarely 1-flowered or 4-flowered, {-+in. long. Two outer 
glumes unequal, the lower from less than 4 to 3 the length of 
the upper, lanceolate, acute, scabrid on the keel; margins broad, 
hyaline. Flowering glumes exceeding the empty glumes, oblong- 
lanceolate, 2-cuspidate at the apex, scabrous-pubescent on the 
back, margins hyaline; awn from the back a little distance from 
the tip, sometimes $-way down, not twisted, recurved, twice as 
long as the glume. Palea almost as long as the flowering glume. 
Rhachilla clothed with copious long silky hairs between the flower- 
ing glumes, produced beyond the upper flower into a silky bristle.— 
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 301, t. 688; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 335; Buch. 
N.Z. Grasses, t. 39. Aira antarctica, Forst. Prodr. n. 41. Avena 
antarctica, Roem. and Schult. Syst. ii. 676; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. 
Zel. 1389; A. Cunn. Precur.n. 257; Raoul, Choix, 39. Danthonia 
pallida, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 256 (not of B. Br.). 
Var. lasiorhachis, Hack. MSS.—Culms, leaf-sheaths, rhachis, and 
branches of the panicle densely pubescent. Other characters as in the type. 
NortuH AND SoutH IsLANDS, STEWART ISLAND, CHATHAM ISLANDS: Abunde 
ant throughout. Sea-level to 4500 ft. 
