Order GRAMINE^. 



GENUS XVIL DESCHAMPSIA, Beauvois. 



Spikelets 2 3, rarely i -flowered. Panicles large, slender branched, 

 rarely contracted. Empty glumes 2, nearly equal. Flowering glumes 

 2 3, and a terminal imperfect one, truncate, 4-toothed, awn dorsal, 

 short, straight, obtuse. Palca 2-nerved, 2-fid at the tip. Scales 2. 

 Stamens 3. Grain free. DISTRIBUTION OF GENUS : TEMPERATE 

 REGIONS OF THE NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN HEMI- 

 SPHERES. 



1. DESCHAMPSIA C^SPITOSA. 



TURFY HAIR GRASS. 

 (Plate XXX 'VII.) 



AIRA KINGII, Fl. Antarct, 376 t. 135. TRIODIA SPLENDIDA, Steudel. 

 A IRA AUSTRALIS, Raoul. AcRosTis AucKLANDiCA, Fl. Antarct. I., 96. 

 DESCHAMPSIA C^ESPITOSA, Beauv. Hook, fil., Fl. N.Z. I., 301. 

 DESCHAMPSIA C/ESPITOSA, Beauv. Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 334. 



A TALL, glabrous, shining, perennial grass, found from sea-level to 3500 

 feet altitude. Flowers December February. Culms i 3 feet high. 

 Leaves involute, long or short; ligule long, acute. Panicle open, 3 12 

 inches long, one sided, branches slender, whorled or fascicled, scaberu- 

 lous. Spikelets - Hnch long. Empty glumes nearly equal, linear- 

 oblong, acute, i 3-nerved. Flowering glume truncate and 4-toothed 

 at the top, 5-nerved, awn basal, as long as the glume, pedicel with tufts 

 of long hairs. Palea bifid at top, 2-nerved. Scales unequally 2-lobed. 

 DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES : A WIDELY DIFFUSED GRASS IN 

 THE TEMPERATE ZONES OF BOTH THE NORTHERN 

 AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES, WITH THE SAME 

 RANGE AS THE GENUS. 



This very graceful showy grass is considered of little value in British agri- 

 culture, being deficient in nutriment, and not relished by any kind of stock. Its 



