Order GRAMINE^E. 



GENUS I. EHRHARTA, Thunberg. 



Spikelds panicled, i -flowered. Empty glumes 4, keeled, compressed, 

 acuminate. Flowering glume terminal, obtuse. Pali a linear, obtuse. 

 Scales 2, 2-lobed. Stamens 2 6. Ovary glabrous, sessile. Styles 

 short. Stigmas with short hairs. Grain free within the hardened 

 glume. DISTRIBUTION OF GENUS : AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, 

 NEW ZEALAND. Etymology: Named in honour of FREDERICK 

 EHRHART, a Swiss Botanist. 



1. EHRHARTA COLENSOI. 



ALPINE RICE GRASS. 



(Plate I.) 

 . 



EHRHARTA COLENSOI, Hpok. fil. Fl. N.Z., 288, t. 6$.\; Handb. N.Z. 



Flora, I., 319. 



A TUFTED, glabrous, alpine grass, growing at 5000 feet altitude. Flowers 

 in January, Perennial. Root fibrous, wiry. Stems 4 10 inches high. 

 Leaves erect, distichous, 2 4 inches long, contracted at the sheath, 

 l__i_j nc h broad, linear-subulate, scaberulous above, smooth below, 

 nerves faint, ligule short, lacerate. Panicle contracted, ij 2 inches 

 long, erect or inclined. Spikelds on slender pedicels, compressed, 

 linear-oblong, \ J-inch long. Empty glumes, lower pair short, oblong, 

 acute, 5 7 -nerved, central nerves stout ; upper pair twice as long as 

 the lower, narrow-lanceolate, almost awned, y-nerved, and with a tuft of 

 silky hairs at the base. Flowering ghtme shorter, linear-oblong, obtuse, 

 9-nerved. Palea narrow-linear, obtuse, 2-nerved, and with a small 

 bristle at the base. Scales 2-lobed, irregularly serrate on the lobes, and 

 nerved below. Stamens 2. Anthers short, stout. Ovary ovate-oblong. 

 Styles short. Stigmas feathery. Grain ovate-oblong. DISTRIBUTION 

 OF SPECIES : NEW ZEALAND. 



