Order GRAMINE^E. 

 Genus, Catabrosa; Sub- Order, Fcstucacece. 



GENUS, XXL CATABROSA, Palisot. 



Spikelets panicled, shining, 2-flowered, lower sessile, upper long pedicel- 

 led. Empty glumes 2 : unequal, shorter than the flowering. Flowering 

 glumes concave, truncate, erose, awned or awnless. Palea 2-nerved. 

 Scales 2 3. Stamens 3. Grain glabrous, free. DISTRIBUTION OF 

 GENUS : TEMPERATE CLIMATES OF NORTHERN HEMIS- 

 PHERE : CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND. Etymology: 

 From the Greek word " Catabrosus," a gnawing, in allusion to the erose 

 tops of the flowering glume, as if bitten or gnawed. 



1. CATABROSA ANTARCTICA. 



ALPINE WHORL, GRASS. 



(Plate, XLL, B.) 



CATABROSA ANTARCTICA, Hook. fil. Flora, Antarct, Part L, 102. 

 CATABROSA ANTARCTICA, Hook. fil. Flora, N.Z., I., 308, t. 56. 

 CATABROSA ANTARCTICA, Hook. fil. Handb. Flora, N.Z., I., 336. 



A SMALL shining alpine grass, ascending to 5000 feet altitude. Flowers 

 January. Perennial. Culms 6 12 inches high, numerously branched 

 below, leafy. Leaves very narrow, involute, as long as or longer than 

 the culms ; ligule long, membranous ; sheaths furrowed. Panicle very 

 slender, 3 4 inches long, branches few, whorled. Spikelets few, small, 

 flat, pale shining, greenish brown. Empty glumes unequal, acute, 

 3-nerved. Flowering glume, erose on the truncate tips, shortly awned, 

 5-nerved. Palea nearly as long as the glume. Anthers broad, short. 

 DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES: CAMPBELL ISLAND, NEW ZEA- 

 LAND. 



This slender little alpine grass forms large patches of a close unmixed pasture, 

 on the Tararua and Ruahine mountains, at an altitude of f>000 feet. It is also, 

 according to Hooker, found in Campbell Island, on moist rocky ledges, at 1000 



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