290 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Graminee. 
unequal, persistent. Lower neuter flowers of one awned palea, the lower shortest. Lower palea of fertile flower 
acuminate, not awned. 
2. Diplax polynoda, Hook. fil.; glaberrima, culmis gracilibus elongatis nodosis ramosis, foliis angustis, 
racemis simplicibus paucifloris, spiculis inferioribus breve pedicellatis, paleis fl. neutr. breviter aristatis, 
inferiore paulo breviore, fl. hermaphr. palea inferiore acuta v. mucronata, staminibus 4. 
Has. Northern Island; Hast Coast, base of Ruahine range, etc., Colenso. 
A very different-looking Grass from JD. avenacea, quite smooth. Culms slender, 8-4 feet long, knotted, and 
branching at the knots. Leaves narrow, 4-8 inches long. Raceme slender, simple, few-flowered. Spikelets sessile, 
the lower on short pedicels. Palee of the neuter flowers with short awns. Stamens four. 
Gen. IV. ALOPECURUS, Z. 
Glume 2, naviculares, subzequales, basi connate, 1-floree. Palee 1-2, marginibus connatis v. liberis; 
inferior carinata, dorso seepius aristata; superior brevior, 1-nervis, v. 0. Sguamule 0. Stamina 3. Cary- 
opsis elliptica, compressa, inter glumas induratas paleasque libera,—Culmi sepius simplices. Folia plana. 
Paniculee conferte, spicaformes, cylindracea, densiflora. 
A genus almost wholly confined to the temperate and frigid regions of the Northern hemisphere; one species 
is common to the Arctic and Antarctic regions (Fuegia), and the New Zealand one is found both in Tasmania and 
in Europe. Culms generally simple, with flat leaves. Panicles contracted into dense, pale, cylindrical spikes. 
Spikelets one-flowered. Glumes laterally flattened, boat-shaped, keeled, joined together below. Palee one or two, free 
or connate; lower keeled, often awned at the back; upper when present smaller, one-nerved. Stamens three. Cary- 
opsis compressed, free, included in the hardened glumes and pales. (Name from aXwmyE, a fox, and ovpos, a tail.) 
1. Alopecurus geniculatus, L.; culmis cespitosis basi geniculatis, panicula contracta cylindracea, 
glumis pubescentibus, palea dorso infra medium aristata—Engl. Bot. t. 1250. A. australis, Nees in 
Mitchell s Australia. 
Haz. Northern and Middle Islands; marshy places. East Coast, Colenso. Canterbury, Lyall, (A 
native of England.) 
The Foxtail Grass of England.—Culms and leaves quite smooth; the former 12-93. feet high, ascending, bent 
below. Panicle contracted into a soft, downy, cylindrical, green spike, 14—24 inches long. Spikelets imbricated 
on a woolly rachis. Glumes downy and fringed. Palea with an awn of variable length inserted at or below the 
middle, sometimes at the base. 
Gen. V. PASPALUM, Z. 
Spieule 2-floree, cum pedicello articulate; flore inferiore neutro, superiore hermaphrodito. Gluma 1, 
rarissime 2, inferior minuta, superior (antica) florem neutrum sequans. 27. neutr. :—Palea mutica, mem- 
branacea. 77. hermaph.:—Palea 2, coriaceze, muticee, inferior concava superiorem 2-nervem amplectens. 
Squamule 2, carnosee, breves. Ovarium sessile. Curyopsis oblonga, intra paleas induratas libera.—Culmi 
sepius ramosi. Spicule in rachem continuam spicata, unilaterales. 
A very extensive tropical genus, rare in the temperate regions of both the North and South hemispheres. Many 
of the species have very wide ranges.—Culms simple or branched. Spikelets small, two-flowered, jointed on short 
stalks, arranged along one side of a continuous often flattened rachis. Glumes 1-2, lower minute, upper as long as 
the neuter flower. Lower flower neuter, with one membranous palea; «upper hermaphrodite, with two coriaceous, 
blunt pales, of which the lower surrounds the two-nerved upper. Scales two, fleshy. ^ Caryopsis included in the 
hardened pales. (Name from maoraAXos, a Greek name for Millet.) 
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