Atropis.| GRAMINES, 915 
‘ 
culm, narrow, setaceously involute, strict, erect, quite smooth ; 
sheaths pale, lower rather lax; ligules ovate, membranous. 
Panicle slender, contracted when in flower, 3-6 in. long; branches 
very unequal, in distant fascicles of 2-5, strict, erect in flower, 
spreading in fruit, simple or sparingly branched. Spikelets 
alternate on the branchlets, narrow, almost terete, pale, ++ in. 
long, 5-9-flowered. Two outer glumes very unequal, the lower 
narrow-ovate, acute, l-nerved, not half the length of the flower- 
ing glume above it; upper twice as long as the lower, oblong, sub- 
acute, 3-nerved. Flowering glumes oblong, obtuse and hyaline at 
the tips, distinctly 5-nerved, but the nerves disappearing below 
the tip, quite smooth and glabrous. Palea shorter than the glume, 
linear-oblong, ciliolate along the keels. Lodicules distinct. Anthers 
oblong, about #4, in. long.—Glyceria stricta, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 
i. 304; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 3386; Fl. Tasm. ii. 123, t. 1628; Benth. 
Fl. Austral. vii. 658; Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 41a. 
Var. suborbicularis, Hack. MSS.—Flowering glume much broader than 
in the type, in outline almost orbicular. Leaves weaker and thinner. 
Norte anp SoutH Istanps: Not uncommon in brackish-water marshes 
from the Bay of Islands southwards to the Bluff. Var. swborbicularis: Near 
Oamaru, Petrie ! 
Also in Australia and Tasmania. The northern A. distans, Griseb., which 
is closely allied to A. stricta, is naturalised in several localities. It is not 
nearly so strict, the leaves are flatter, the panicle not so contracted, and the 
spikelets are much smaller. 
2. A. novee-zealandize, Hack. MSS.— Annual, pale whitish- 
green. Culms densely tufted, erect, quite glabrous, leafy, 3-4- 
noded, the uppermost node much above the middle, 4-14 in. high. 
Leaves sheathing the whole of the culm, strict, erect, complicate, 
striate; sheaths compressed, usually longer than the blades, 
grooved ; ligules broad, membranous, hyaline, irregularly toothed 
at the tip. Panicle 2-6in. long, erect, contracted, dense, pale 
whitish-green; branches in fascicles of 2-7, very unequal, short, 
smooth, erect. Spikelets numerous, sessile or shortly pedicelled, 
about tin. long, 4-5-flowered. Two outer glumes slightly unequal, 
about 4 the length of the whole spikelet ; lower narrow, lanceolate, 
acute, l-nerved, sometimes with a short lateral nerve on each side ; 
upper .broader and more obtuse, 3-nerved. Flowering glumes 
oblong or oblong-ovate, obtuse and hyaline at the tip, with some- 
times an obscure notch on each side, 5-nerved, glabrous or slightly 
hairy on the back near the base. Palea as long as the glume, 
linear-oblong, minutely bidentate at the tip, ciliolate on the nerves. 
Lodicules distinct. Anthers linear-oblong, about 54, in. long.—Poa 
Walkeri, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 224. Glyceria 
novee-zealandiz, Petrie in. Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxxiii. (1901) 329. 
