62 



3. Spinifex paradoxus, Benth. 



Botanical name. Paradoxus, Latin, something new or unexpected, 

 an allusion by Bentham to the way in which the genus was overlooked 

 by eminent botanists (see B. FL, vii, 505). 



Where figured Icones plantarum, t. 1243, 1244. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 504). Glabrous divaricately 

 branched, rigid, and brittle, but not so stout as the preceding species. 



Branches in clusters of three to six, surrounded by short leaves with loose sheaths, 

 the lower stem-leaves long and narrow ; the ligula a dense ring of cilia. 



Male plant : Spikelets in a dense cluster or head of \ to f inch diameter, one to 

 three outer bracts lanceolate and about as long as the head, the inner ones much 

 reduced ; the spikelets about 3 lines long, the outer ones nearly sessile, the 

 inner ones pedicellate and sometimes two on a pedicel, the pedicel or axis pro- 

 duced into a point shorter than the spikelet. 



Outer empty glumes two, several-nerved. 



Floivering glumes two, nearly equal, longer than the empty ones, each with a palea, 

 and three stamens. 



Female plant : Heads the size of the males when in flower, but the bracts larger and 

 broader, and when in fruit the bracts variously enlarged, one or two often 

 becoming curved, 1 inch long or more, broad with hard centres and scarious 

 margins, sometimes all scarcely changed. 



Spikelets almost sessile within each bract, the very short pedicel produced into a 

 point much shorter than the spikelets, and sometimes minute or obsolete. 



Empty glumes prominently seven or nine nerved, the two outer rather shorter than 

 the third, which is either empty like them or contains a small palea. 



Fruiting glume shorter, very acute, smooth, and shining. 



Styles distinct. 



Value as a fodder. JSTot palatable to stock. 



Other uses. Excellent as a sand-binder for interior regions, as it 

 withstands very high temperatures and protracted drought. 



Habitat and range. In the dry interior of all the colonies except 

 Tasmania and Western Australia. 



Tribe ii. ANDKOPOGONE^;. 

 Sub-tribe i. Zoysiese. 



14. Zoysia. 16. Neurachne. 



15. Lappago. 17. Perotis. 



14. ZOYSIA. 



Spikelets one-flowered, not awned, nearly sessile in a close spike, 

 not distichous, the rhachis continuous. 



Glumes two, the outer one broad, complicate, keeled, the inner 

 flowering one much smaller, thin, and hyaline. 



Palea still smaller. 



Styles distinct. 



Grain free, enclosed in the somewhat hardened outer glume. 



