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Graminee.) FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 291 
1. Paspalum scrobiculatum, Linn. ; glabrum, foliis planis marginibus scaberulis, spicis 3-6 alternis 
basi seepius setigeris, rachi lata, spiculis 2-seriatis imbricatis, flosculis glabris ovato-orbiculatis, glumis 
3-nerviis.—Linn. Mant. P. orbiculare, Forst. Prodr. Br. Prodr. A. Rich. Flor. A. Cunn. Prodr. P. 
venustum, Banks et Sol. MSS. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands, Banks and Solander, ete. 
A tall, smooth, tufted Grass, with stout, leafy, simple culms, 1-2 feet high. Leaves flat, rather broad, often 
wrinkled, and always rough at the margin. Spikes three to six, 1-2 inches long, with a few long hairs at their 
insertion. Rachis broad, green. Spikelets in two rows, imbricating, quite smooth, nearly orbicular. —An extremely 
abundant Grass in the temperate and warmer regions of the globe, found at Port Jackson, but not in Tasmania. 
It is one of the few pasture grasses about the Bay of Islands. 
2. Paspalum distichum, Burm.; glaberrimum, culmis repentibus ramosis foliosis compressis, foliis 
distichis involutis, spicis 2 conjugatis sessilibus pedunculatisve, rachi angusta, spiculis biseriatis laxe 
imbricatis ovatis acutis glabris.— Burm. Ind. P. vaginatum, Swartz, Fl. Ind. Occ. P. littorale, Br. Prodr. 
Trin. Ic. 10. 4. 118. 
Has. Northern Island; Bay of Islands, R. Cunningham, etc. ; Auckland, Sinclair, ete. 
A perfectly smooth, creeping, generally littoral Grass, common in the tropics and warm regions of most parts 
of the globe, and also found in Australia. — Culms branched, compressed. Leaves bifarious, involute. Spikes two 
together, equal, 1 inch long. Rachis narrow. Spikelets loosely imbricated, ovate, acute, quite smooth. 
Gen. VI. ISACHNE, Br. 
Spieule 2-fore; flore inferiore 3 v. 8, superiore 9 interdum 3. Gluma 2, subsequales, concave, 
obtuse. 77.8. Palee 2, subsequales, concave, inferior superiorem 2-nervem amplectens. Squamule 2, 
truncate, I. 9.Paleg utin d. Staminum rudimenta. Caryopsis intra paleas induratas libera.—Folia 
lata, plana ; vagine callo barbate. Spicule pedicellate, paniculate, pedicello continue. 
Usually tropical Grasses, inhabiting wet places, distinguished from Paspalum by the equal florets, of which 
the lower is male or hermaphrodite. G@lumes nearly equal, as are the palee. Caryopsis included within the 
hardened glumes. Leaves flat, the mouth of the sheath bearded. (Name from wos, equal, and axvy, a glume.) 
1. Isachne australis, Br.; glabra v. scaberula, culmis foliosis ramosis decumbentibus, panicula ovata 
v. lanceolata, ramulis inferioribus elongatis pedicellisque flexuosis.—Br. Prodr. p. 196. 
Has. Northern Island; Bay of Islands, Cunningham, etc. ; Auckland, Sinclair. 
This is a common Australian Grass, and apparently the same asa species found in India and many tropical 
countries. Culms 6-18 inches long, prostrate below, the branches curving upwards. Leaves usually scabrid, flat, 
broad, 3-5 inches long, $ inch broad. Panicle 2 inches broad, of long, flexuous, sparingly divided branches, bearing 
solitary, pedicelled, hard spikelets, 1 line long. Glumes and palee blunt.—As is the case with Oplismenus amulus, 
the name I have given to this plant is most probably not the earliest it has received; but the genus is involved. 
in great confusion, and to settle this point would require a critical examination of many species. 
Gen. VII. OPLISMENUS, Pal. 
Spicula 9-fore; flore inferiore $ v. neutro, superiore d. Glume 2, insequales, sepissime aristate. 
Fl. 3. Palea 2; inferior aristata; superior interdum 0. 2.8. Palee 2, subeeguales; inferior mucronata, 
superiorem parinervem amplectens. Squamule 2, truncate. Caryopsis intra paleas libera.— Folia plana. 
Spicule spicate ; spicis racemosis paniculatisve ; rachi continua. 
