Order GRAMINF^E. 



GENUS VIII. ISACHNE, Brown. 



Spikelets panicled, 2-flowered, lower flower usually male, upper herma- 

 phrodite. Empty glumes 2, nearly equal, often deciduous. Flowering 

 glumes nearly equal, the fertile glume hardening and including the palea 

 and grain. Palea nearly as large as the glumes, also hardening. 

 Scales 2. Stamens 3. Ovary linear. Grain free within the hardened 

 glume and palea. DISTRIBUTION OF GENUS : TROPICAL AND 

 SUB-TROPICAL CLIMATES. Etymology, from two Greek words 

 signifying "equal" and a "glume." 



1. ISACHNE AUSTRALIS. 



EQUAL-GLUMED MILLET. 

 (Plate XII.) 



PANICUM ATROVIRENS, Trin. ; Kunth, Enum. I., 127 ; F. Muell. Fragm. 

 VIII., 193. PANICUM ANTIPODUM, Spreng. Syst. I., 314. ISACHNE 

 AUSTRALIS, R. Brown. Hook, fil., Fl. N.Z., I., 291 ; Handb. N.Z. 

 Flora, I., 324. 



A TUFTED grass, usually on swampy land. Flowers December January. 

 Perennial. Root fibrous. Stems 6 1 8 inches high ; slender, decumbent, 

 ami creeping at the base. Leaves scaberulous, 3 5 inches long, 

 \ i-inch broad, flat ; mouth of the sheath with silky hairs. Panicle 

 erect, ovoid, i 2 inches long, lax, branches long, flexuous, sparingly 

 divided. Spikelets few, pedicelled, obtuse, J-inch long. Empty glumes 

 glabrous, n- and 9-nerved. Flowering glumes : lower, sessile, glabrous, 

 5-nerved, Palea 2-nerved ; upper, stipitate, pubescent, 5-nerved, Palea 

 2-nerved. Scales truncate. Anthers large. Orary glabrous. Styles 

 very long. Stigmas penicillate, shorter than the styles. DISTRIBUTION 

 OF SPECIES: INDIA, CHINA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. 



Little is known of this grass in New Zealand, except in the District of 

 Auckland, where, according to Kirk, it is abundant in swampy places, and is 



