294 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [Graminez. 
branches conspicuous and few-flowered, almost covered with the long flexuous awns. Glumes very long, slender, 
acuminate, scabrid at the keel, longer than the flowers by one-half or one-third. Lower palea long, scabrous, hard, 
with a contracted, narrow, entire or bifid point, and a dorsal awn, which is flexuous, and not twisted, inserted above 
the middle. Upper palea shorter, narrow, membranous, bifid at the tip.—This curious plant differs from Dichel- 
achne in the awn not being twisted, from Agrostis in the pedicelled flower, from Muhlendergia in the long glumes. 
I have followed Trinius and Ruprecht by placing it in the first-named genus, but T have retained the original specific 
name crinita, which is most appropriate and familiar, and used by Brown, Labillardiére, Forster, and Linnzus. 
MM. Trinius and Ruprecht, on the other hand, substitute that of vulgaris for the Australian specimens, and Forste- 
riana for the New Zealand ones, besides making other species from Australian and Tasmanian specimens. 
2. Dichelachne sciurea, Hook. fil.; levis v. culmis basi vaginis foliisque scaberulis, foliis planis v. 
involutis, panicula elongata laxa rariflora, glumis inegualibus acuminatis florem vix superantibus, arista 
tortili palea inferiore scaberula subtriplo longiore.—Agrostis sciurea, Br. Prodr. D. Sieberiana, rim. 
et Rupr. Act. Acad. Scient. Petrop. l. c. Muhlenbergia, Trin. Diss. Stipa micrantha, Nees, Diar. Ratisb. 
Jid. Trin. et Rup. 
Has. Northern Island; Bay of Islands and Auckland, Cunningham, Colenso, Sinclair, ete. 
A different-looking plant from D. crinita, but very closely allied to it, differing in the slender, thin panicle, 
which is loosely branched, and comparatively very few-flowered. The glumes are shorter than in D. crinita, as 
long as the floret, and the twisted awn is not four times longer than the upper palea. It is also a Tasmanian and 
Australian plant. I feel again reluctantly compelled to reject MM. Trinius and Ruprecht’s specific name of Siebe- 
riana, which those authors substitute for the applicable and familiar one of sciwrea, by which this plant has been 
known for thirty years to the Australian Botanist. 
3. Dichelachne sõipoides, Hook. fil.; ceespitosa, glaberrima, polita, foliis elongatis strictis setaceo- 
involutis, panicula erecta contracta pauciflora parce ramosa, glumis levibus longe setaceo-acuminatis flos- 
culum 4 excedentibus, paleis subcoriaceis inferiore sericeo-villosa, arista geniculata glaberrima flosculo bis 
terve longiore.—Avena angustifolia, Banks et Sol. MSS. (Tas. LXVI.) 
Has. Northern Island, on rocks near the sea; Hast Coast, Banks and Solander ; Bay of Islands 
and Auckland, Sinclair, ete. 
Also found in Tasmania, growing, as in New Zealand, near the sea.—A handsome, densely tufted, rigid, wiry, 
smooth and polished, yellow Grass, often forming large tussocks, with the habit and appearance of a Stipa. Culms 
4-8 feet high. Leaves longer than the culms, slender, involute, wiry, erect, rounded. Panicle contracted, 4—6 
inches long, strict, erect, few-flowered, and sparingly branched; branches short, capillary, erect. Glumes 1-3 inch 
long, white or yellow, membranous, thin and shining, lanceolate, with a long, slender point. Floret shorter than 
the glumes, covered with soft, silky, spreading hairs. Palee rather coriaceous; lower with two small teeth at the 
top, one on each side the awn, which is curved, about an inch long, and quite glabrous.—PrATE LXVI. Fig. 1, 
spikelet ; 2, floret; 3, tip of lower palea; 4, stamen; 5, pistil and scale; 6, caryopsis and scales :—all magnified. 
Gen. XI. APERA, Adans. 
Spicule l-floræ; flore breviter pedicellato. Gluma subzequales, flore longiores, mutice v. breviter 
aristate ; arista haud tortili. Palee herbacese, demum indurate, inferior ad apicem integrum aristata. 
Squamule 2, membranacex.  Caryopsis libera.—Gramina caspitosa, plerumque gracilia; culmis sepe 
ramosis ; spiculis pedicellatis, paniculatis, non articulatis. 
Generally slender, often branched Grasses, the few previously known species of which are natives of Europe 
and North America. Panicles diffuse. Glumes nearly equal, as long as the flower, which has a very short pedicel. 
Palee herbaceous, afterwards hardening; dower with a terminal, not twisted awn, and entire apex. (Derivation of 
the name not known to me.) 
