H 
292 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Graminea. 
Broad-leaved, generally tropical Grasses, distinguished from Paspalum by the awned glumes and pales. (Name 
from omhicpevos, curved ; alluding to the curved palea.) 
l. Oplismenus @mulus, Kunth; culmis gracilibus decumbentibus glabratis basi repentibus, va- 
ginis nodisque pubescentibus, spica (racemove) interrupta basi composita, spiculis 2-3 confertis 4-6- 
floris basi barbatis, floribus hispidis scaberulisve, glumis ambabus aristatis, interioris arista brevissima, fl. 
neutr. mutica. —Kunth, Agrost. p. 142. Orthopogon, Br. Prodr. Panicum unguinosum, Banks et Sol. 
MSS. et Te. 
Has. Northern Island; common in woods and shady places, Banks and Solander, ete. 
A slender, prostrate Grass, with sparingly branched, weak, ascending culms, 6-10 inches long. Sheaths of the 
leaves and knots of culms more or less downy; blade of leaf flat, 4-6 inches long, à broad. Raceme of a few 
distant hispid spikelets, which are clustered together, nearly sessile, and surrounded with a brush of long hairs at 
the base. Glumes awned, the lower awn very short, upper + inch long, very stout and blunt for its size.—A 
common Grass in some parts of Australia, and throughout the tropics of Asia, Africa, and America. I have retained 
Mr. Brown's name for it of emulus, though it has probably earlier ones; an investigation of the question of its 
synonymy would however demand a critical examination of the genus, which is much involved. 
- Gen. VIII. SPINIFEX, Z. 
Flores polygamo-dioici; spieulis bifloris; masculis solitariis, ad basin racheos elongate aristeeformis ; 
androgynis in distincta planta, spicatis. G/ume 2, membranacem. Spicule androg. :—Flos inferior d v. 
neuter. Palee 2 v. 1, membranacex. Flos superior 8. Palee 2, coriacex, inferior superiorem binervem 
amplectens. Sguamule 2, carnose. Styli basi subeoheerentes. Caryopsis intra paleas libera.—Gramina 
ramosissima, subfrutescentia, in arenosis repentia. Spicze masculee umbellatim congeste, in acumen pungens 
producta ; feminez fasciculata, fasciculis in capitulum congestis. 
A very remarkable and conspicuous genus of downy or silky Grasses, forming creeping, bushy tufts in sea-sand, 
much branched.— Spikes collected into globose bunches; male spikes solitary, placed at the base of a long, naked, 
subulate rachis ; hermaphrodite (androgynous) spikes usually on separate plants. Spikelets two-flowered. Glumes 
two, membranous, nearly equal. Palee of the male spikes two, membranous; lower oblong, channelled ; upper with 
two ciliated keels. Androgynous spikelets spiked, two-flowered ; lower flower male or neuter, with two (rarely one) 
membranous pales; upper flower hermaphrodite, with two coriaceous oblong concave paleze, the lower including 
the upper, which is two-nerved. Scales two, fleshy. Caryopsis enclosed between the pales, free. (Name from 
spina, in allusion to the termination of the rachis.) 
1. Spinifex Airsutus, Lab.; vaginis sericeo-tomentosis inferioribus interdum glabratis, foliis intus 
glabris, rachi spicze masculee spicam superante.— Labill. FI. Nov. Holl. v. 9. p. 81. t. 930, 231. S. sericeus, 
Raoul, En. Plant. non Br. S. inermis, Banks et Sol. MSS. Txalum inerme, Forst. Prodr. fid. Raoul. 
Has. Northern Island; Bay of Islands, Auckland, East Coast, etc., by the sea-coast, Banks and 
Solander, Cunningham, etc. 
A very strong-growing, silky and woolly Grass, with creeping, knotted, stout, rooting culms, branched here and 
there; the branches bearing long involute flexuose leaves, 1-14 feet long. Lower sheaths smooth and shining ; 
upper, as well as the back of the leaf, covered with shaggy or silky wool. Male spikes numerous, peduncled, silky, 
J inch long, collected into an involucrate head, the rachis produced beyond the flowers. Hermaphrodite (androgy- 
nous) spikes also numerous and collected into an involucrate head, formed of numerous silky spines, 4-5 inches 
long, that stick out in all directions: each of these is a peduncle or rachis, at whose base only the fertile or 
androgynous flowers are to be found.—This is a common Tasmanian and South Australian plant. 
