178 



Where figured. Agricultural Gazette. 

 Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 649). 



Stems slender, almost filiform, but rigid, 6 inches to 1 foot, or rarely 1 feet high, 



the base sometimes almost bulbous, but glabrous. 

 Leaves very narrow, almost setaceous, usually short. 



Panicle loose, 2 to 4 inches long, with short, spreading, rather rigid branches. 

 Spikelets few on the branches, shortly pedicellate, very narrow, 3 to 6 lines long, ten- 



to twenty-four-flowered, terete or very slightly flattened. 

 Flowering glumes closely appressed, broad, obtuse, scarcely f line long, usually 



purple, keeled, but the lateral nerves very faint or obsolete, the rhachis scarcely 



articulate. 

 Palea nearly as long. 



" With, the habit and inflorescence nearly of E. chsetophylla, this has 

 the spikelets rather of E. falcata" (Benth.) 



Value as a fodder. A wiry grass of little value. 



Habitat and range. Found in all the Colonies except Tasmania 

 and Western Australia. An interior species. 



18. Eragrostis falcata, Gaud. 



Botanical name. Falcata, adjective,, from the Latin falx, folds, a 

 sickle ; used in botany to denote anything curved, in allusion to the 

 curving of the spikelets. 



Where figured. Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 649). A slender, tufted, glabrous 

 grass, varying from a few inches to about 1 foot high. 

 Leaves narrow, convolute, erect. 



Panicle narrow, usually secund, slightly compound, 2 to 4 inches long. 

 Spikelets sessile or nearly so, crowded or clustered along the short branches, very 

 narrow, nearly terete, often curved, from 4 to 5 lines to 1 inch long and about 

 J line broad, with twelve to fifty or even more flowers, the rhachis scarcely 

 articulate. 

 Flowering glumes closely appressed, scarcely 1 line long, obtuse, hyaline at the end, 



the keel and a lateral nerve on each side very prominent. 

 Palea rather shorter,, curved, persistent. 

 Styles slender. 

 Grain ovate, flattened. 



Value as a fodder. Isaac Tyson, quoted by Mueller, states that it 

 is one of the best pasture-grasses in arid tracts in sub-tropical Western 

 Australia. Such a statement is, of course, only comparative, for the 

 grass is by no means of the highest merit. It is a small grass, wiry 

 in appearance, with small leaves ; nevertheless, it affords useful feed 

 until it is burnt up by the summer droughts. Much of the plant 

 consists of inflorescence, and it produces seed readily. 



Habitat and range. This grass is found in all the Colonies except 

 Tasmania. It is an interior species in most of the Colonies, although 

 it comes near the coast in the south-western part of the Continent. It 

 is common both on the far inland plains and also on the sand-ridges 

 that skirt them. 



Reference to Plate. A. A typically falcate spikelet. B. Flowering glume, showing 

 three prominent nerves. 



