22 PANICUM IMBECILLE. 



Flowering glume obtuse, coriaceous, white, 2-nerved. Scales 2, truncate 

 or bilobate. Ovary glabrous. Styles long. Stigmas shorter, penicillate. 

 Grain linear. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES; TROPICS OF ASIA, 

 AFRICA, AND AMERICA; AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. 



A sparse foliaged grass, not adapted for pasture, its usual habitat being under 

 the shelter of bush. It may be termed an unsocial grass, as it is most commonly 

 found growing in isolated patches, and it probably could not exist under a struggle 

 for place with grasses of more robust habit on open land. Cattle eat this grass 

 readily, but their relish for it must be greatly lessened by the large amount of 

 foreign matter, such as dead leaves, with which it is usually associated ; it may, 

 therefore, be classed with other bush grasses, such as Mlcrolcena avenacea, as an 

 auxiliary to supplement neighbouring pastures during dry seasons. 



This grass is the only representative in New Zealand of the genus Panicnm, a 

 family containing several species of the greatest value, as corn and fodder plants, 

 such as Panicum frumentaceum, cultivated in India as a corn plant, and Pamcum 

 speclabile, indigenous to Brazil, and valuable as a permanent summer grass, the 

 latter being highly recommended as adapted to the temperate climate of New 

 Zealand. Experiments with this grass in Australia prove its capacity to resist the 

 driest seasons, which is pointed out by Dr. Schomburg in his paper on introduced 

 grasses, read before the Chamber of Manufactures, Adelaide, and also as the result 

 of experiments by Dr. Curl, of Rangitikei, in relation to its value in pasture. 

 (Trans. N.Z. Institute, Vol. IX., page 531.) 



Regarding the capacity of grasses to resist drought, it may be accepted as a 

 rule in the improvement of pastures that the permanence of every grass will be in 

 exact proportion to the stoutness of its roots, and depth to which they extend. 

 Species with deep-seated, stout roots, like Panicum spectabile and Sporobilis 

 elongatus, will be enabled to resist the driest seasons ; whilst species such as 

 Lolium perenne, and Dlchelachne crinila, having fine fibrous roots ramifying near 

 the surface, must inevitably perish under the same circumstances. DISTRIBUTION 

 IN NEW ZEALAND : NORTH ISLAND : COMMON IN WOODS Banks and 

 Solander ; AUCKLAND ISTHMUS, GREAT BARRIER ISLAND, THAMES 

 Kirk; TITIR ANGI -Cheeseman ; KAWAU ISLAND, WELLINGTON 

 Buchanan. SOUTH ISLAND : NELSON Travers ; CANTERBURY Lyell 

 and Armstrong. 



Reference to Plate VII. : Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Nervation of 

 tirst empty glume. 4. Nervation of second empty glume. 5. Nervation of third 

 empty glume. 6. Nervation of flowering glume. 7. Nervation of Palea. 

 8, 8'. Scales. 9. Ovary with stamens and penicillate stigmas. 10. Grain. 



