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1. Arthraxon ciliare, Beauv : var. australe, Eenth. 



Botanical name. Arthraxon, from the Greek arthron a joint, axis 

 an axis or stem ; jointed to the stem, the spikelets being sessile in the 

 alternate notches of the articulate rhachis ; ciliare, Latin, hairy. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 524). A broad-leaved, creeping, 

 straggling, much-branched grass. 



Stems slender, decumbent or creeping at the base, branching and ascending to about 



1 foot. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, 1 to 1 inches long, cordate at the base, the sheaths 



usually ciliate with long hairs. 

 Spikes usually three or four, shortly pedicellate, forming a little simple panicle of 



about 1 inch. 



lihachis and abortive pedicels glabrous. 



Spikelets few, rarely above 6 inches, each branch or spike about 2 lines long. 

 Outer glume acute, with about seven equally prominent more or less muricate nerves ; 



keel of the second glume ciliate towards the top. 

 Terminal or flowering glume, obtuse, entire or very shortly two-lobed, the dorsal awn 



proceeding quite from the base, fine, and about twice as long as the spikelet. 



Value as a fodder. A straggling slender grass which, according to 

 Bailey, seems to be well-liked by cattle. Duthie says it is considered 

 to be a good fodder-grass in Rajputana, India. 



Habitat and range. Found in swamps ; the only two Australian 

 recorded localities being New England (New South Wales) and 

 Toowoomba (Queensland) . This grass requires the further attention 

 of collectors. 



Found also in Asia. In India the normal species is found in the 

 plains of the north-west, and up to 7,000 feet on the Himalaya. 



28. POLLINIA. 



Spikelets one-flowered, in pairs in the alternate notches of the 

 articulate rhachis of simple spikes, one sessile or shortly pedicellate, 

 the other on a longer pedicel, but the two otherwise similar, the 

 spikes sessile and clustered, or rarely solitary at the end of the 

 common peduncle. 



Glumes four or three ; outer one the largest, membranous, awnless 

 with a truncate toothed or ciliate tip ; second usually thinner, keeled, 

 acute or produced into a fine straight awn ; third thin and hyaline or 

 deficient ; terminal or fourth glume a twisted and bent awn, contracted 

 and flexuose or hyaline, dilated and two-lobed at the base as in 

 Andropogon. 



Palea small and hyaline or none. 



Styles distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the outer glumes and free from them. 



Habit of Andropogon, section G-ymnandropogon, the spikes silky- 

 villous, rufous, or silvery-white as in A. sericeus and its allies, but the 

 pedicellate spikelets are all, except sometimes at the base of the spike, 

 fertile, which is never the case in Andropogon. 



