Order GRAMINE^. 



5. AGROSTIS PARYIFLORA. 



SLENDER BENT GRASS. 



(Plate XX. C.) 



AGROSTIS SCABRA, Willd. Spec., PI. I., 370. AGROSTIS PARVIFLORA, 

 R. Brown- Hook, fil., Flora Tasmania, II., 113, t. 158?,. Fl. N.Z., 

 I., 296 ; Handb. N.Z. Flora, L, 328. 



A SLENDER, tufted, glabrous grass, 6 12 inches high, ascending to 

 3000 feet altitude. Flowers January February. Perennial. Leaves 

 narrow, flat or involute, scabrid on the edges ; ligule oblong, truncate, 

 lacerate. Panicle 3 5 inches long, of few short capillary scabrid 

 branches, opposite or 3-nate. Spikelets A f -inch long, slender, 

 narrow. Empty glumes nearly equal, spreading, glabrous, scabrid on 

 the keel, i-nerved ; inner glume with two short lateral nerves. Flowering 

 glume truncate, 5-nerved ; awn (when present) dorsal, very short. 

 Palea o. Scales linear-oblong, tapering to a sharp point. Ovary 

 oblong. Styles very short. Stigmas short, feathery. DISTRIBUTION OF 

 SPECIES : AUSTRALIA, TASMANIA, NEW ZEALAND. 



A valuable grass, common on the upland pastures of the South Island, also 

 found at lower levels in both Islands. It is sometimes confounded with Agrostis 

 <'ahia, with which it is often associated, and from which it may be best 

 distinguished by its more slender constricted panicle and few narrow spikelets. 

 The abundance of both species may be best observed when they are in flower, 

 which is generally late in the season, when most of the other grasses have ceased 

 growing, thus providing abundance of food when most required. Species of 

 Agrostis occupy a prominent place everywhere in the pastures of temperate and 

 cold climates, but their adoption in cultivation has generally been unpopular with 

 agriculturists, from their proving very inconstant in bulk and nutrient value. 

 This defect, to a great extent, is, no doubt, occasioned by the great susceptibility 

 of these grasses to the influence of differences in soil, heat, and moisture. Variation 

 in species from this cause may also be accepted as an important element of 

 difference in value, superior varieties being sometimes produced, of which the well- 

 known Florin, At/rontix alba, may be cited as an example. A comparison of the 

 slight difference in structural form which may exist between two grasses, while 

 yet differing considerably in value as food, may be made between the species now 



