59 



Value as a fodder . A creeping grass found near water; forms a 

 good sward, covering* the land as the water recedes in waterholes. 

 (Bailey) . Believed to be nutritious ; stock eat it readily. 



Habitat and range. A semi -a qua tic, found in all the colonies except 

 Tasmania ; and, as regards our own Colony, from the Coast districts on 

 the ranges and table-lands to the driest districts. Found also in 

 Asia. 



2. Chamaeraphis paradoxa, Poir. 



Botanical name. Paradoxa Latin adjective, " something unusual 

 or unexpected/' a name first given to this grass by Eobert Brown, 

 who called it Panicum paradoxum, as it was abnormal in comparison 

 with other species of that genus. 



Synonym. Panicum paradoxum, R. Br. 



Where figured. Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 499). A smaller plant than C. 

 spinescens. 



Leaves mostly short and spreading. 



Panicle almost reduced to a simple spikelike raceme. 



Awnlike branches mostly bearing only a single spikelet near the base. 



Lower ones only occasionally more elongated, with two distant spikelets. 



Rhachis always produced into a long awn, exceeding the spikelet. 



Spikelets acuminate, 4 or 5 lines long. 



Outer glume broad, thinly membranous, about line long, the second and third glumes 



nearly equal, striate with many nerves. 

 Fruiting glume oblong, acute, nearly 2 lines long, thin, and almost nerveless. 



Value as a fodder. Probably the same as that of the preceding 

 species. These moisture-loving plants are frequently not appreciated 

 to the extent they deserve, because the uncomfortable situations in 

 which they are found, render careful examination and continued 

 observation of them difficult for the greater part of the year. 



Habitat and range. Semi-aquatic; occurs from Victoria and 

 Queensland. In our Colony it extends from the Coast district to the 

 table-land. It is uncommon around Port Jackson. 



Reference to plate. A. Portion of a panicle, enlarged; B. A spikelet, showing the 

 rhachis produced into an awn longer than the spikelet ; c. Grain. 



13. SPIMFEX. 



Spikelets dioecious,* spicate or solitary on partial rhachises col- 

 lected in dense globular heads, with a bract under each rhachis. 



Male plant : Spikelets usually several to each bract, spicate or 

 clustered, two-flowered. 



Glumes four, nearly similar, two outer empty ones sometimes smaller, 

 sometimes larger than the two flowering ones ; a perfect palea and 

 three stamens within each flowering one. 



Fertile plant : Spikelets solitary within each bract at the base of a 

 partial rhachis, with one female or hermaphrodite flower, and an im- 

 perfect or rudimentary, or sometimes a male flower below it. 



Dioecious means having the male and female inflorescence on separate plants. This is 



very unusual in grasses. 



