38 
in the interior will keep it under observation. It certainly belongs to 
a group which contains a number of fodder-plants known to be very 
valuable to the pastoralist, and the appearance of this grass leads one 
to the belief that it yields a fair quantity of tender herbage. Baron 
von Mueller records that at the Murchison River, in Western Australia, 
it attains a height of 3 feet. 
Habitat and range.—An interior species; found im all the colonies 
except Tasmania and Victoria. 
Reference to Plate.—a, Portion of a spike, enlarged, showing the flattened rhachis, 
which ends in an awn-like point, and the rigid awn-like bristle under the lowest spikelet ; 
B, 0, Spikelet dissected, showing the outer and second and third glumes ; also the fruiting 
glume and palea ; p, Spikelet, showing relative size of outer glume; £, Grain. Note the 
characteristic way in which the spikes are bent back or reflexed. 
Series 1V.—EcuHINocHLOz®. 
Spikelets sessile and crowded in three or four rows, or irregularly 
along the simple alternate, usually secund spikes or spikelike branches 
of the panicle. Glumes sometimes awned. 
27. Panicum crus-galli, Linn. 
Botanical name.—Crus-galli (Latin)—crus, the shank, or that part of 
the leg between the knee and what corresponds to the ankle; galh 
“of acock.’” Name given froma fancied resemblance of the crowded 
spikelets to the foot rather than the leg of a cock. 
Vernacular names.— Barn-yard Grass” of U.S.A. Other American 
names are “ Cock’s-foot” (not to be confused with Dactylis), “ Large 
Crow-foot Grass,” ‘‘ Water Grass.” 
Where figured.—Duthie, Vasey, Trinius, Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. F]., vu, 479).—A coarse, decumbent annual, 
ascending to | or 2 feet, the leaves rather broad, without any ligula. 
Panicle dense, and usually secund, of simple branches or sessile spikes, the lowest 1 or 
2 inches long, the upper ones gradually shorter ; the whole panicle in some 
varieties densely hispid with the long purplish or green awns. 
Spikelets about 14 lines long, more or less pubescent, acuminate or awned, crowded 
and clustered along the branches. 
Rhachis usually bearing numerous cilia or capillary bristles amongst or below the 
spikelets. 
Outer glume very short and broad. 
Second and third glumes nearly equal, and three-nerved, usually ciliate on the margins. 
Second produced into a rather short awn. 
Third in the common Australian form, with an awn varying from 3 to 1 inch, and a 
thin palea, and very rarely a male flower in its axil. 
Fruiting glume smooth and shining, without any or only a very short point. 
Botanical notes.—The species with which this grass is most likely 
to be confused is P. colonum, a tropical grass, which has been intro- 
duced also into this Colony. The two grasses can usually be most 
readily distinguished by the larger size and the longer awns of P. 
crus-galli. The latter species is, however, exceedingly variable in the 
matter of awns (“bristles”); sometimes they are quite short and 
scarcely observable; sometimes great variation exists m the same 
panicle. Some authorities unite them, but itis better to keep them 
