132 



distichous like those of that genus, but all round the axis ; Neesii, in 

 honour of Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck, the celebrated 

 German botanist, who specialised on grasses as well as other plants. 



Synonym.- Danthonia nervosa, Hook., in Mueller's Census. 



Where fgured. Hooker, Fl. Tasmania (as D. Archeri) ; Agricultural 

 Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 589). A glabrous erect grass of 

 2 or 3 feet, or even taller in marshy situations. 



Leaves very narrow in the smaller specimens, broader in the larger ones, with rather 



broad loose sheaths. 



Panicle 6 to 10 inches long, loose and narrow. 

 Spikelels all pedicellate on capillary branches, usually about \ inch long without the 



awns, five- to ten-flowered. 

 Outer glumes varying from 2 to 4 lines long. 

 Flowering glumes rather longer, the five nerves reaching to the end, and when old 



often splitting at the apex between the nerves, rather rigid and scabrous -rugose 



when in fruit. 41 



Value as a fodder. A tall bulky grass, nutritious and palatable to 

 stock, but not very abundant. 



Habitat and range. Such as margins of claypans, marshes, &c., 

 with fresh water. It occurs in all the Colonies, except Queensland, in 

 moist localities, and it is found over the greater part of New South 

 Wales. 



63. ANISOPOGON. 



Spikelets one-flowered, large, in a loose but scarcely branched 

 panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the two outer 

 glumes and produced into a slender bristle above the flower, occasion- 

 ally bearing an imperfect spikelet. 



Glumes three, the two outer herbaceous; flowering glume raised 

 on a short stipes (the rhachis of the spikelet) , narrow, convolute, hard, 

 with three rigid awns between two small hyaline terminal lobes, the 

 central awn long, twisted and bent. 



Palea hard, ending in a long, rigid two-nerved point. 



Styles distinct. 



Ovary crowned by a tuft of hairs. 



1. Anisopogon avenaceus, E.Br. 



Botanical name. Anisopogon Greek, anisos unequal, pogon a beard, 

 in allusion to the unequal size of the awns of this grass ; avenaceus, 

 Latin adjective, signifying oat-like. 



Vernacular name. Sometimes called " Oat-grass," from the general 

 resemblance of its inflorescence to that of oats. 



Where figured. Trinius, as Danthonia anisopogon; Agricultural 

 Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 590). An erect glabrous grass of 

 2 or 3 feet, branching at the base only. 



Leaves convolute, terminating in subulate points. 



Ligula very short, truncate, often ciliate. 



Panicle long, the large spikelets hanging from slender pedicels. 



