128 



Glumes thinly scarious, two outer empty ones nearly equal, acute ; 

 flowering glumes close above them, shorter, thin and hyaline, finely 

 pointed or shortly bifid, with a fine awn dorsally attached below the 

 middle, and twisted at the base. 



Palea two-nerved. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain enclosed in, and more or less adnate to, the very thin glume 

 and palea. 



1. Aira caryophyllea, Linn. 



Botanical name. Aira. Dioscorides called a grass by this name, 

 but the origin of the word is doubtful. Linnreus adopted this name, 

 though the grass is not identical with that of Dioscorides. Caryo- 

 phyllea Latin, a clove gilly-flower, having foliage resembling that of 

 a pink. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 585). A slender, elegant, tufted 

 annual, rarely above 6 inches high. 



Leaves short and fine. 



Panicle loose and spreading, the capillary branches in pairs or threes. 

 Spikelets erect, silvery-shining. 



Outer glumes 1 to 1 J lines long, almost scarious, very acute. 



Flowering glumes shorter, the dorsal awn projecting about a line beyond the outer 

 glume. 



Value as a fodder. Unknown. 



Habitat and range. Found in Tasmania, Victoria, and IS r ew South 

 Wales. In the last named Colony it has been recorded from the 

 Mudgee district. It is a native of most temperate countries. 



59. DESCHAMPSIA. 



Spikelets two-flowered, in a loose or rarely contracted panicle with 

 slender branches, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate, hairy, more or 

 less produced between the flowering glumes and beyond the upper one 

 as a hairy bristle, or rarely bearing a terminal empty glume. 



Glumes keeled, with thinly scarious sides, two outer empty ones 

 rather acute ; flowering glumes obtuse or truncate, and more or less 

 four-toothed, with a fine dorsal awn attached below the middle, the 

 lowest close above the empty glumes, the upper raised on a stipes (the 

 rhachis of the spikelet). 



Palea prominently two-nerved, often two-toothed. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the glume and palea, usually free from them. 

 Perennial grasses with the shining spikelet s of Trisetum and Aira, 

 usually smaller than in the former, larger than in the latter genus. 



1. Deschampsia csespitosa, Beaur. 



Botanical names. Deschampsia , after M. H. Deschamps, a French 

 chemist (? naturalist), who accompanied La Perouse's disastrous 

 expedition. C&spitota, a Latin adjective derived from csespes, a turf 

 or sod. 



