73 



continuously through hot and cold weather, " for so far the winter has 

 in no way affected its appearance or growth. It has, moreover, 

 proved a continuous seed-producer." 



Habitat and range. Found near moist places from the Port Jackson 

 district northward to Queensland and Northern Australia. Confined 

 to the coast districts. 



6. Ischsemum ciliare, Retz.: var. podostachyum, Benth. 



Botanical name. Ciliare, Latin, cilia } the hairs of the eye-lids (eye- 

 lashes), alluding to the hairy leaves and bearded nodes ; podostachyum , 

 pous, podus a foot, and stachys an ear of corn, one of the spikes being 

 attached lower down, giving the other a pedunculate appearance. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 520). 



Stem, in the specimen seen, slender, under 1 foot high, erect from a shortly decumbent 



or creeping base. 

 Leaves short, glabrous. 

 Lignla prominent. 

 Nodes bearded. 

 Spikes scarcely 1 inch long, two at the end of the peduncle, but one of them shorter 



and attached lower down, giving the other a pedunculate appearance. 

 Pedicels ciliate. 

 Sessile spikelet 3 lines long. 

 Outer glume lanceolate, acutely acuminate, the nerves more conspicuous and not BO 



smooth as in the typical I. ciliare and in /. decumbens. 

 Second glume as long, but thinner, narrow, and keeled. 

 Third nearly as long, very acute, with a male flower. 

 Fourth or terminal glume hyaline, deeply two-lobed, with a slender awn not twice as 



long, enclosing the hermaphrodite flower. 

 Pedicellate spikelet nearly similar, but containing only a male flower and no awn. 



Value as a fodder. It is occasionally used in India as a fodder- 

 grass. (Duthie.) 



Habitat and range. As far as is at present known, confined to this 

 Colony, and to the Hunter Eiver district. 



8. Ischaemum pectinatum, Trin. 



Botanical name. Pectinatum, Latin, combed or like a comb, from 

 the supposed appearance of the spikelets. 

 Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 521). 



Stems tufted and leafy at the base, about 1 foot high or rather more. 



Lower leaves narrow, flat, under 6 inches long, those on the stem few, reduced to long 



close sheaths, with very short, erect laminae. 

 Spike single, pedunculate above the last sheath, rather slender, straight or slightly 



curved, usually about 2 inches, but sometimes twice that length. 

 Sessile spikelets closely appressed and imbricate on one side of the rhachis, much 



flattened ; 2 lines long or rather more. 

 Outer glume broad, truncate or retuse, thin but rigid, seven-nerved, the outer nerves 



close to the margin elegantly pectinate-muricate in the lower part, and produced 



upwards into short wings. 

 Second glume narrower, acute, keeled. 



Third glume thin and hyaline, with a palea and male flower. 

 Terminal glume, with a hermaphrodite flower, shorter, rather broad, obtuse, very 



thin and hyaline, with a faint central nerve but no awn ; the palea similar but 



without the central nerve. 

 Pedicellate, spikelet reduced to a single few-nerved acuminate glume, rr slightly 



spreading. 



