185 
Synonym.—Poa Fordeana, F.v.M. 
Where figured.—Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. FI., vii, 657)—An erect glabrous grass 
attaining 2 or 3 feet. 
Leaves flat, very scabrous. 
Panicle very loose, compound, 4 to 8 inches long, with very spreading capillary 
branches, mostly in pairs or threes, 
Spikelets lanceolate, mostly 4 to 5 lines long, eight- to twelve-flowered. 
Outer glumes acute, three-nerved, 
Flowering glumes five- or seven-nerved, 1} lines long, surrounded by a tuft of hairs 
and shortly hairy or pubescent in the lower part, the midrib prominent but not 
reaching the obtuse hyaJine apex, the lateral nerves shorter. 
Palea-keels scarcely ciliate. 
Value as a fodder.—A useful fodder grass, succulent and palatable 
to stock. 
Habitat and range-—Found in all the Colonies except Tasmania and 
Western Australia, in moist situations in the interior. 
2. Glyceria fluitans, R. Br. 
Botanical name.—Fluitans—Latin, floating, in allusion to the habitat 
of the plant, often floating in water. 
Synonym.—Poa fluitans, Scop. 
Vernacular names.—“ Manna Grass,” ‘ Floating Manna Grass,” 
“Water Grass’ (Tasmania). 
Where jfigured.—Hackel ; Agricultural Gazette. 
Botanical description (B. F1., vii, 657).— 
Stems creeping in mud or floating at the base, ascending to 2 or 3 feet. 
Leaves narrow, flat, glabrous, the ligula jagged. 
Panicle loose, long and narrow. 
Spikelets solitary in the distant notches, or two or three on a short branch from the 
same notch, erect, narrow, 4 to 1 inch long, six- to twenty-flowered, the rhachis 
glabrous as well as the glumes. 
Outer glumes broad, obtuse, hyaline, faintly nerved at the base, the lowest about 
14 lines, the second longer. 
Flowering glumes more rigid, about 3 lines long, with about seven nerves not reaching 
to the hyaline, obtuse, entire, or slightly denticulate apex. 
Lodicules usually connate, 
Value as a fodder.—One of the best fodder grasses for very damp 
localities. 
“ Grows from 2 to 4 feet high. It flourishes in rich soil and swampy 
ground, often extending far into the water, floating in luxuriant 
growth on the surface. Cattle and horses are fond of it, even when 
partially dry.” (Bacchus.) 
The statement was made in the New Zealand Farmer that this grass 
grows on land even if covered with a foot of water, and that stock 
neglect other pasture for it. It is much relished by cattle, horses, 
and pigs. 
“There is a great difference of opinion amongst agricultural writers 
with respect to the fondness of animals for the leaves and culms of 
this grass. We have often seen the ends of the leaves cropped by 
