

Order GRAMINE^. 



3. TRISETUM YOUNGIL 



YOUNG'S OAT GRASS. 



(Plate XL. B.) 

 TRISETUM YOUNGII, Hook, fil., Handb. N.Z. Flora, I., 335. 



A TALL perennial alpine grass, found from 3000 5000 feet altitude. 

 Flowers January. Culms erect, i 3 feet high, glabrous, shining. 

 Leaves flat, i ^-inch broad, and sheaths pilose ; ligule short, rounded at 

 top and lacerate. Panicle 3 6 inches long, pale colour, branches very 

 short with few spikelets. Spikelets \ l-inch long, shining, i 2-flowered. 

 Empty glumes unequal, broad, acute or cuspidate, 3-nerved, as long as 

 or shorter than the spikelet. Flowering glumes 2-cuspidate, nearly 

 glabrous ; awn dorsal, stout, recurved, inserted below the 2-cuspidate 

 tip, pedicel with silky hairs, Palea 4-toothed at tip, 2-nerved. DISTRI- 

 BUTION OF SPECIES : NEW ZEALAND. 



Owing to the limited distribution of thjj^rass, its true value is little known, but 

 the large size and succulent foliage which it attains, recommend it to notice as a 

 species that will repay the trouble of cultivation. According to Mr. H. H. Travers, 

 who has recently visited the Tararua Mountain, it is there abundant, at an eleva- 

 tion of 5000 feet, and forms large patches of close growth, which, if cut, would 

 produce bulky fodder. It thus appears to be a grass worthy of attention, and 

 would no doubt prove a valuable acquisition to both farmer and grazier at lower 

 altitudes. DISTRIBUTION IN NEW ZEALAND : NORTH ISLAND : TARARUA 

 MOUNTAINS, (5000 feet) H. H. Travers. SOUTH ISLAND, MACAULAY 



VALLEY, (30004000 feet) Haast and Young. 



i 



Reference to Plate XL. B. : Fig. 1. Plant. 2. Spikelet. 3. Floret. 

 4, 4'. Nervation of empty glumes. 5. Nervation of flowering glume. 6. Ner- 

 vation of Palea. 7,7'. Scales. 



