Order GRAMINE^E. 



2. DICHELACHNE CRINITA. 



LONG HAIR PLUME GRASS. 



(Plate XV.) 



DICHELACHNE VULGARIS, Trinius. DICHELACHNE FORSTERIANA, 

 Trinius. MUHLENBERGIA MOLLICOMA, Nees. AGROSTIS CRINITA, 

 R. Brown. Prod. 170. APERA CRINITA, Palisot. ANTHOXANTHUM 

 CRINITUM, Linn. fil. Suppl., 90, Labill. Fl. Nov. Holl., II., 115, t. 263. 

 DICHELACHNE CRINITA, Hook, fil. Fl. Tasm. II. , in. Fl. N.Z. I., 

 293 ; Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 326. 



A GLABROUS, downy, or scabrid grass, growing in small tufts, ascending 

 to 3000 feet altitude. Flowers November April. Root fibrous. 

 Perennial. Steins i 3 feet high, slender or stout, leafy. Leaves flat or 

 involute ; ligule short, obtuse, entire, or lacerate. Panicle elongate, 

 contracted, spike-like, 3 6 inches long, branches nearly hidden by the 

 long awns. Spikelets J-inch long. Empty glumes long-acuminate, 

 3-nerved. Plmcering glume 2-fid at top, 5-nerved ; awn capillary, 

 inserted at the back above the middle, flexuose, not twisted, nearly four 

 times as long as the glume. Palea 2-fid, with a short awn, 2-nerved. 

 Scales large, oblong, long-acuminate. Anthers long. Ovary glabrous. 

 Styles short, wide apart. Stigmas long, plumose. Grain long, linear. 

 DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES ; AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA, NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



A valuable grass, abundantly distributed throughout the islands, and forming, 

 when in flower, a prominent feature in pasture. Asa pasture grass when grown 

 under favourable circumstances, on rich valley bottoms with perennial moisture, it 

 is very succulent, but when on dry clay hills it is harsh and scanty ; its nutrient 

 qualities may be admitted, forming as it does a large constituent of pastures famous 

 for fattening stock. As a fodder grass it possesses considerable bulk, and would 

 add much value to a mixed crop of hay. In sheltered situations near Wellington, 

 this species has a very extended period of flowering, as a succession of scattered 

 panicles may generally be found during eight months of the year. This is not, 

 however, a singular circumstance, as some native and introduced species, such as 



