Order GRAMINE^E. 

 Genus, Glyceria ; Sub-Order, Festucacece. 



GENUS XX. GLYCERIA, *R. Brown. 



Spikelets few, several flowered, pedicellate in a narrow or contracted 

 panicle. Empty glumes, unequal, obtuse or acute, awnless. Flowering 

 glumes imbricated, obtuse, awnless. Palea nearly as long as the glume. 

 Scales i 2, connate. Stamens 2 3. Grain glabrous, free. DISTRI- 

 BUTION OF GENUS : TEMPERATE REGIONS OF THE NORTH- 

 ERN AND SOUTHERN HEMISPHERES. Etymology : From the 

 Greek word " glyceros," sweet. 



1. GLYCERIA STRICTA. 



SWEET GRASS. 

 (Plate, XLI., A.) 



GLYCERIA STRICTA, Hook. fil. Fl. Tasm., II. , 123, t. i62B. GLYCERIA 

 STRICTA, Hook. fil. Fl. N.Z., I., 304. GLYCERIA STRICTA, Hook. fil. 

 Benth. Fl. Austral., VII., 658. POA SYRTICA, F. Muell. Trans. Viet. 

 Inst., 1855, 45. FESTUCA SYRTICA, F. Muell. Fragm., VIIL, 130. 

 GLYCERIA STRICTA, Hook. fil. Hand. N.Z. Flora, I., 336. 



AN erect tufted glabrous grass. Flowers December March. Perennial. 

 Culms, 4 24 inches high. Leaves shorter than the culms, 2 6 inches 

 long, very narrow, involute ; sheaths large, striate ; ligule short, broad. 

 Panicle 26 inches long, branches erect, whorled, lower longest, spread- 

 ing when in flower. Spikelets few, 510 flowered. Empty glumes very 

 unequal, lower i-nerved, upper 3-nerved. Flowering glume obtuse, 

 5-nerved, none of the nerves reaching the top. Scales obliquely ovate, 

 acute. Grain linear. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES : AUSTRALIA, 

 TASMANIA, NEW ZEALAND. 



This grass is not uncommon on the margins of littoral swamps, or on sand- 

 hills near the sea, and is eaten with much relish by all kinds of stock, the juicy 

 sweetness so characteristic of the genus, proving so strong an attraction for sheep, 



