Order GRAMINE^E. 

 Genus, Gymnostich urn; Sub-Order, Hordeacecc. 



GENUS XXVL GYMNOSTICHUM, Schreber. 



Spikelets spiked, sessile, alternate on a flattened rachis, 13 flowered. 

 Empty glumes wanting or reduced to a pair of flat bristles. Flowering 

 glume acute or awned, seated on a thickened callus. Palea 2-nerved, 

 nerves ciliate at the back. Scales 2-lobed, ciliate. Ovary crowned on 

 the top with a mass of glutinous hairs. Styles apparently remote at the 

 base. Grain linear. DISTRIBUTION OF GENUS : NORTH AMERICA, 

 NEW ZEALAND. Etymology : From two Greek words, " naked" and 

 " a rank," in reference to the absence of glumes. 



1. GYMNOSTICHUM GRACILE. 



SLENDER GLUMELESS GRASS. 

 (Plate LVIIL) 



GYMNOSTICHUM GRACILE, Hook, fil., Fl. N.Z., I., 312, t. 70. GYMNOS- 

 TICHUM GRACILE, Hook, fil., Handb. Fl. N.Z., I., 343. 



A TALL slender grass with prostrate branching stems. Perennial. From 

 sea level to 2000 feet altitude. Culms slender, 2 4 feet high. Leaves 

 narrow, flat, smooth or rough ; sheaths smooth, often membranous ; 

 ligule o. Spike 4 8 inches long, slender, inclined, rachis flat, flexuous, 

 edges ciliate. Spikelets 20 30, sessile, alternate, \ f inch long with 

 the awns, i 3 flowered. Empty glumes o, or replaced by 2 persistent 

 bristles, or narrow rigid i-nerved glumes ; florets i 3, lower pedicelled; 

 upper floret generally imperfect, each with a callus at its base. Empty 

 glumes or bristles, i -nerved. Flowering glume 5-nerved, scabrid ; awn 

 short. Palea obtuse, ciliate at top. Scales 2-lobed, ciliate; ovary 

 crowned with a mass of glutinous hairs, which scale off from the ripe 

 grain. Styles united at the base. DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIES : NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



