Order GRAMINE^. 



7. AGROSTIS PILOSA. 



PILOSE BENT GRASS. 

 (Plate XXII.) 



AGROSTIS PILOSA, A. Richard. Flora. I., 134, t. 23. Hook. fil. Fl. 

 N.Z., L, 297. Handb. N.Z. Flora, I. 329. 



A LARGER and more robust grass than the last, Flowers November 

 March. Annual or Perennial. Culms tufted, 12 36 inches high. 

 Leaves flat, scaberulous on the edges, and sometimes pilose at bottom ; 

 ligule broad, short and rounded at top. Panicle large, 6 18 inches 

 long, 3 10 inches broad, branches whorled, scaberulous. Spikelets 

 J-inch long, on slender scaberulous pedicels. Empty glumes nearly 

 equal, margins 'and keel scabrid, i -nerved. Flowering glume sessile, 

 truncate, with 4 prominent teeth, 5-nerved, pilose, awned near the 

 middle of the back. Palea oblong, bifid, 2 -nerved. Scales entire, 

 narrow-lanceolate, acute. Stigmas nearly sessile. DISTRIBUTION OF 

 SPECIES : NEW ZEALAND, CHATHAM ISLANDS. 



This is an abundant and wide spread grass in both Islands, from sea-level to 

 3000 feet altitude, it differs much from the previous species A. cemvla, in its larger 

 size and more robust habit, in its more silky or pilose flowering glume, more 

 distinct prolongation of the rachis at back of Palea, terminating in a pencil of 

 silky hairs, and broader pilose leaves. In rich damp ground not subject to summer 

 droughts this grass is perennial, and acquires in such places considerable bulk ; it 

 is closely cropped by cattle and sheep, and may be considered a valuable grass both 

 as late and early feed ; specimens having been collected in the Botanical Garden, 

 Wellington, in flower, during the late severe winter. DISTRIBUTION IN NEW 

 ZEALAND: NORTH ISLAND: MOUNTAINOUS DISTRICTS OF THE 

 INTERIOR Colenso. WELLINGTON Buchanan. SOUTH ISLAND : 

 ASTROLABE HARBOUR, D'URVILLE, NELSON. SUB-ALPINE DIS- 

 TRICTS : NELSON H. H. Travers. SOUTHERN ALPS, CANTERBURY 

 Sinclair, Haast ; OTAGO LAKE DISTRICT Hector and Buchanan ; DUNE- 

 DIN Buchanan ; CHATHAM ISLANDS H. H. Travers. 



Reference to Plate XXII. : Fig. 1, Plants. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 

 4. Nervation of empty glumes. 5. N ervation of flowering glume. 6. Nervation of 

 Palea. 7. Scale. 8. Ovary. 



