164 
79. ISACHNE. 
Spikelets two-flowered, both flowers hermaphrodite or the upper 
female or the lower male, small in loose panicles, the rhachis of the 
spikelet articulate above the empty glumes, glabrous and not produced 
above the flowering ones. 
Glumes unawned, convex, faintly nerved, two outer empty ones 
nearly equal; flowering ones of a firmer consistence, closely sessile or 
the upper one shghtly raised. 
Palea as long as the glume. 
Styles distinct. 
Grain enclosed in the hardened glume and palea, free from them. 
1. Isachne australis, R. Br. 
Botanical name.—Isachne—Greek, isos, equal ; achne, chaff (glume), 
the two outer glumes being equal; australis, Latin, southern (Aus- 
tralian). 
Synonym.—Panicum atrovirens, Trin. 
Vernacular name.—* Swamp Millet.” 
Where figured.—Buchanan ; Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. Fl., vu, 625).— 
Stems rather slender, decumbent, creeping, and rooting at the lower nodes, ascending | 
to 1 foot or more. 
Leaves lanceolate, rough, with a minute pubescence. 
Panicle loose, spreading, ovoid in circumscription, 14 to 3 inches long, with numerous 
filiform branches. 
Spikelets all pedicellate, nearly 1 line long. 
Outer glume quite glabrous. 
Lower flower usually male, with a glabrous glume, the upper female, shortly stipitate, 
with the glume usually minutely and slightly pubescent, the rhachis slightly 
dilated, and articulate immediately under the upper glume. 
Value as a fodder.—A swamp-loving grass, nutritious, and readily 
eaten by stock. It is a tender, green grass, of rapid growth, 
and bears abundance of seed. Symonds, “Indian Grasses,” p. 33, 
says that horses and cattle are_very fond of it. (Duthie). 
Habitat and range-—Found in Victoria, New South Wales, and 
Queensland. In New South Wales it extends from the coast to the 
tableland. Its favourite habitat is swampy land, or by the sides of 
streams. It also occurs in New Zealand, and in tropical Asia from 
Ceylon and the Peninsula to the Malayan Archipelago and South China. 
81. ERIACHNE. 
Spikelets two-flowered, usually not very numerous, in a loose or 
dense panicle, the flowers both hemaphrodite and similar, the rhachis 
of the spikelet articulate above the outer glumes and hairy round the 
flowering ones. 
Empty glumes two, persistent, acute or tapering into a point or short 
awn, many- (usually nine- to eleven-) nerved. 
Flowering glumes with fewer nerves, with long spreading hairs on 
the back or margins, awnless or tapering into a fine straight or curved 
awn not twisted. 
