Order GRAMINE^. 



GENUS XVL DANTHONIA, Decandolle. 



TUFTED or tussac grasses. Leaves flat or involute. Panicle effuse or 

 contracted. Spikelets pedicelled, the rachis of the spikelet articulating 

 above the outer glumes. Empty glumes unequal, keeled, awnless. 

 Flowering glumes pedicelled, articulating at the base of each floret, con- 

 vex at the back, 9-nerved, broadly 2-fid, the divisions cuspidate or awned, 

 dorsal awn from between the divisions, long, slender or stout, filiform or 

 flat and twisted at the base ; the awn in some species much reduced, 

 silky, with scattered hairs on the lower half or glabrous, fringed, or with 

 distant tufts of hairs on margin and back, in some cases the hairs are 

 arranged in circles round the glume. Palea 2-fid. Scales glabrous, 

 fleshy, crowned with long cilia. Stamens 3. Ovary glabrous. Grain 

 free. DISTRIBUTION OF GENUS : TEMPERATE REGIONS OF 

 THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, SOUTH AFRICA, AUS- 

 TRALIA, TASMANIA, NEW ZEALAND. Etymology: Named in 

 honour of M. Danthoine, a French Botanist. 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE SPECIES : 



I. Empty glumes shorter than the flowering. Flowering glumes 

 with scattered silky hairs on the lower half, and fringed on the margins 

 and back with long silky hairs ; in D. Cunninghamii, often margins only 

 fringed. 



Awn subulate, not flattened or twisted. 



Panicle open, large, effuse, branches 6 10 inches 



long i. D. Cunninghamii. 



Panicle ovate, 3 4 inches long, lax, open ; leaves 



short - 2. D. ovata. 



Panicle short, close, ovoid, branches \ i inch 



long 3- D. bromoides. 



Awn flattened and often twisted at the base, 

 licle very lax, open ; leaves setaceous 4. D. Raoulii. 



