924 GRAMINEA, [Asperella. 
33. ASPERELLA, Humb. 
Perennial grasses. Leaves narrow, flat. Spikelets 1- to several- 
flowered, 2-3 together or solitary in the alternate hollows of the 
rhachis of a simple slender spike, one face of the spikelet next the 
rhachis ; rhachilla disarticulating above the two outer glumes and 
between the flowering glumes. Two outer glumes either wanting, 
or present in the lower spikelets as minute subulate bristles. 
Flowering glumes narrow-lanceolate, rigid, convolute, rounded on 
the back, 5-nerved above, produced into a short awn. Palea rather 
shorter than the glume, 2-keeled. Lodicules 2, obovate or dimi- 
diate-obovate, hairy. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct; stigmas 
plumose. Grain narrow-oblong, villous at the tip, grooved down 
the front, adherent to the palea. 
A small genus of 7 species—2 in New Zealand, 2 in North America, and 
1 each in the Himalayas, Japan, and Siberia. 
Outer glumes often wanting. Flowering glumes more or 
less scabrid, distinctly 5-nerved, narrowed into an awn 
of varying length Aad a Be a 
Outer glumes always present. Flowering glumes smooth, 
faintly 3-5-nerved, truncately 3-toothed at the apex, the 
micdle tooth produced into a short mucro... -. 2. A levis: 
1. A. gracilis. 
1. A. gracilis, 7. Kirk im Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 352. — 
Perennial. Culms much branched and decumbent at the base, 
erect above, slender, often rather wiry, quite smooth and glabrous, 
leafy throughout, 1-3 ft. high. Leaves 3-9 in. long, ;4,-1in. broad, 
flat, striate, minutely scabrid on the margins and upper surface ; 
sheaths smooth, thin, striate; ligules often obscure. Spike elon- 
gated, 3-8in. long, very slender, of 20-40 sessile spikelets placed 
singly in the alternate hollows of the rhachis ; rhachis compressed, 
flat, flexuous, ciliate on the edges. Spikelets pale-green, $—2in. 
long with the awns, 1-3-flowered. Two outer glumes altogether 
absent or reduced to minute bristles. Flowering glumes lax, lanceo- 
late, 5-nerved, rounded on the back below, midrib prominent above, 
usually more or less scabrid but sometimes nearly smooth, gradually 
narrowed into a scabrid awn of variable length, callus prominent. 
Palea almost as long as the glume, keels ciliate—Gymnostichum 
gracile, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 312, t. 70; Handb. N.Z. Fi. 343; 
Buch. N.Z. Grasses, t. 58. 
NorrH anp Soutu Isnanps: Auckland—Te Pahi, Kaipara, Kirk! Thames, 
Adams! T. Ff. C.; Te Aroha, Adams ! Rotorua, 7. I’. C.; Hast Cape district, 
Adams and Petrie. Hawke’s Bay—Tarawera, Dannevirke, Colenso! Turangarere, 
Petrie. Wellington— Buchanan. Nelson— Lower Motueka, Graham River, 
fT. F.C. Oanterbury—Akaroa, Raoul, Armstrong ; Mount Cook district, T. #'. C. 
Otago—Not uncommon in lowland districts, Buchanan! Petrie! Sea-level to 
3000 ft. 
2. A. levis, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 406.— 
Culms branched from the base, slender, erect ov diffuse, sparingly 
