Amphibromus.] GRAMINE. 883 
flowered; branches few, short, capillary, scaberulous, the lower- 
most with 2-3 spikelets, the upper 1-spiculate. Spikelets com- 
pressed, pale-green, usually about 4in. long without the awns, 
4—7-flowered. Two outer glumes unequal, small, the upper not 
one-half the length of the flowering glume above it. Flowering 
clumes silky at the base, firm and rather rigid when in fruit, 
5—7-nerved, scabrous on the back and sides; awn irom the middle 
of the back, long, straight, scabrid, not bent nor twisted. Palea 
hyaline, 2-nerved, strongly ciliate on the nerves. 
Nortu Isuanp: Auckland—Marshes near Waiuku, Carse! Lakes Wha- 
ngape and Waikare, 7. F. C.; Lake Waihi, Kirk! Taranaki—Swamps near 
New Plymouth, 7’. F. C. 
Distinguished from the Australian A. Neesti by the weak decumbent habit, 
smaller panicle, narrower spikelets, shorter outer glumes, and straight awn. 
23, DANTHONIA, D.c. 
Perennial or rarely annual grasses. Leaves very variable. 
Spikelets 3- to many-flowered, laterally compressed, arranged in a 
lax or dense panicle, rarely in a simple raceme ; rhachilla disarticu- 
lating above the 2 outer glumes and between the flowering glumes, 
produced beyond the uppermost flower. Two outer glumes per- 
sistent, empty, equal or more or less unequal, keeled, acute or 
acuminate, 3-7-nerved, as long as the whole spikelet or slightly 
shorter. Flowering glumes 2 or more, rounded on the back, usually 
ciliate on the margins, 5—-9-nerved, hairy, the hairs often collected 
into variously arranged tufts, 2-lobed at the tip, the lobes often 
produced into short awn-like bristles; awn from the sinus between 
the lobes, usually long and rigid and twisted, rarely reduced to a 
mucro; callus at the base of the glume, hairy. Palea broad, hyaline, 
2-keeled. Lodicules 2. Stamens 3. Styles distinct; stigmas 
plumose. Grain oblong, ellipsoid, or obovoid, free within the 
flowering glume and palea. 
Species not far from 100, widely dispersed in both hemispheres, but chiefly 
in the south temperate zone, particularly abundant in Australia, New Zealand, 
and South Africa. Of the 13 species found in New Zealand, 2 extend to Aus- 
tralia, the rest are endemic. 
* Two outer glumes shorter than the spikelet, very rarely almost equal- 
ling it. 
+ Culms tall, stout. Panicle large ; spikelets numerous. 
Culms 2-5ft. Leaves 4-4in., often pilose. Panicle 
6-18in., lax. Awn straight, not flattened nor twisted 
at the base at Ae Fi 1. D. Cunning- 
hamii. 
Culms 14-2ft. Leaves pilose. Panicle 3-4in., lax. 
Flowering glume with separate tufts of hairs on the 
margins and back Se : 
2. D. ovata. 
