Naturalisation in Extra- Tropical Countries. 469 



Stipa aristigrlumis, F. v. Mueller. 



South-Eastern Australia, in the dry inland-regions. Graziers 

 consider this perennial grass as very fattening and as yielding a 

 large quantity of feed. Its celerity of growth is such that, when 

 it springs up, it will grow at the rate of 6 inches in a fortnight. 

 Horses, cattle, and sheep are extremely fond of it. It ripens seeds 

 in little more than two months, should the season be favorable. 



Stipa Jarava, Beauvois. (8. Tchu, Ktmth.) 



Peru, in the cooler regions. Mentioned specially as a good 

 pasture-grass there by Prof. J. A. de los Bios. 



Stipa setigrera, Fresl. 



From Oregon, California and Texas to Western South- America. 

 Prof. Brewer pronounces this the most common and one of the best 

 bunch-grasses of California. 



Stipa tenacissima, Linne.* (Macrochloa tenacissima, Kunth.) 



The Esparto or Atocha, called also Alfa. Spain, Portugal, 

 Greece, North- Africa, ascending the Sierra Nevada to 4,000 feet, 

 common also on the arid plateau of Algeria. This grass has 

 become celebrated for some years, having already afforded a vast 

 quantity of material for British paper-mills. During 1870 the 

 export of Esparto-ropes into England was 18,500 tons, while the 

 raw material to the extent of about 130,000 tons was imported. 

 In 1889 Great Britain imported of Esparto and other vegetable 

 fibres for paper-mills 385,000 tons, representing a value of over 

 two million pounds sterling. It is tall and perennial, and would 

 prove a valuable acquisition anywhere, inasmuch as it lives on any 

 kind of poor soil, occurring naturally on sand and gravel, as well 

 as on clayey, calcareous or gypseous soil, and even on the very 

 brink of the coast. Possibly the value of some Australian grasses, 

 allied to the Atocha, may in a like manner become commercially 

 established ; and mainly with this view paper-samples of several 

 grass-kinds were prepared by the writer. (See " Report Industrial 

 Exhibition, Melbourne, 1867.") Even in the scorching heat of the 

 forbidding Sahara-region the Atocha maintains itself, particularly 

 where the soil is somewhat calcareous, and it may thus yet be 

 destined to play an important part in the introduced vegetation of 

 any arid places of desert-tracts, particularly where lime and 

 gypsum exist. The very tenacious fibre resists decay, and is much 

 employed for the manufacture of ropes, also for baskets, mats, hats 

 and other articles. Extensive culture of this grass has commenced 

 in the south of France. It is pulled once a year, in the earlier part 

 of the summer. The propagation can be effected from seeds, but 

 is done usually by division of the root. Ten tons of dry Esparto, 

 worth from 4 to 5 each, can be obtained from an acre under 

 favourable circumstances. The supply has fallen short of the 



