Graminee.] FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. 311 
This genus, which includes the cultivated Wheat, is found in various parts of the world. — Culms branched at 
the base. Leaves flat. Spikelets generally arranged in a dense spike, parallel to the unjointed rachis, three- to many- 
flowered. Glumes two, nearly equal. Palee two; upper with two ciliated keels. Scales two, entire, often ciliated, 
Ovary hairy at the top, free or with the pales adhering to it. (Name, originally given to the Wheat grain, from 
tritum, beaten; in allusion to the operation of thrashing.) 
1. Triticum multiflorum, Banks et Sol.; erectum, culmis gracilibus vaginisgue glabris, foliis planis 
superne scaberulis, spica elongata, spiculis levibus appressis 6-16-floris, glumis insequalibus lanceolatis 
obtusis acuminatisve nervosis flosculo 4-3 brevioribus, palea inferiore inferne enervi superne nervosa 
obtusa apiculata v. in aristam brevem scabram rectam angustata, superiore obtusa.—T. multiflorum et T. 
languidum, Banks et Sol. MSS. T. scabrum, A. Cunn. Herb. non Br. T. repens, A. Rich. Flor. ? 
Has. Northern Island: Bay of Islands, Auckland, East Coast, ctc., Banks and Solander, etc. 
Closely allied to the 7. repens of Europe and very many other countries, but distinguished by the many- 
flowered spikelets: Major Munro has pointed out to me its identity with a Tibetan species, the T. semicostatum, 
Nees, which is, I believe, unpublished. The whole genus requires a revision, which will, no doubt, result in a 
reduction of the many supposed species to a very few cosmopolitan ones.—Culms annual, slender, erect or prostrate 
below, 1-2 feet high, striate and quite glabrous, as are the sheaths. Zeuves flat, 4—8 inches long, smooth below, 
rough to the touch on the upper surface. Spike a span long, of six to twelve alternate spikelets, each many- (eight- 
to sixteen-) flowered, 1—3 inch long. Glumes unequal, acuminate, nerved, one-third smaller than the pales. Lower 
palea smooth, concave, nerveless and pale below, green above, there nerved, and produced into a short, rigid, rough awn. 
2. Triticum scabrum, Br.; culmis cespitosis gracilibus vaginisque levibus (rarius scaberulis), foliis 
planis v. involutis utrinque scabris (rarius levibus) striatis, spica 2-10-flora, spiculis scaberulis 4—8-floris, 
glumis lanceolatis subzequalibus nervosis palea flosculo duplo brevioribus, palea inferiore basi levi enervi 
superne scaberula carinata in aristam validam lente recurvam scabridam palea bis terve longiorem angus- 
tata.— Br. Prodr. A. Rich. Flor. T. squarrosum, Banks et Sol. MSS.; nob. in Lond. Journ. Bot. v. 3. 
P. 417. Festuca scabra, Lab. Fl. Nov. Holl. v. 1. p. 22. t. 26. Vulpia scabra, Nees in Plant. Preiss. 
Has. Northern and Middle Islands; in dry places, often near the sea, Banks and Solander, ete. 
Very nearly allied to the T. longiaristatum, Boiss., of Persia, T. elymoides, Hochst., of Abyssinia, and a very 
common Tibetan and North-west Himalayan species, if indeed these be not all identical. —A very common and 
variable Australian Grass, also found in Tasmania, being generally more scabrid, and bearing a smaller spikelet, 
in those countries than in the moister climate of New Zealand.—Culms tufted, slender, 8 inches to 2 feet high, 
sometimes capillary, with only one spikelet, varying in such cases just as Festuca bromoides does. Culms and sheaths 
generally quite smooth. Leaves usually very scabrid on both surfaces, 1-4 inches long, flat or involute. Spike 
4-6 inches long, two- to cight-flowered. Spikelets scabrous, erect, alternate, 14-24 inches long, including the awns. 
Glumes unequal or nearly equal, often very small, sometimes half as long as the palez (without the awns), lanceo- 
late, nerved. Lower palea smooth and nerveless below, keeled and scabrid above, produced into a long, rigid, 
slightly recurved awn, twice or thrice as long as itself. 
Gen. XXIX. GYMNOSTICHUM, Schreb. 
Spicule spicatee, rachi parallele, 2-3-flore ; flores distantes. Glume 2, setiformes, v. 0. Palee 2: 
Superior bicarinata, carinis ciliatis. Stamina 3. Sguamule glabre v. ciliate. Caryopsis paleis adnata. — 
Gramina planifolia ; spiculis rachi continua subdistichis. 
A genus hitherto supposed to contain only one species, which is found in the United States. It is distinguished 
from Triticum by the glumes being absent or reduced to a pair of rigid bristles, and by the distant, fewer, long- 
pedicelled florets. In the New Zealand species the spikelets are solitary, in the American G. hystrix they are 
placed two together. (Name from yupwos, naked, and ortyxos, a rank ; in reference to the absence of glumes.) 
