Graminee. | FLORA OF TASMANIA. 119 
dorso ad medium inserta, superiore bifida zequilonga, setula ad basin floris secundi pedicellati villosa.—Nod. 
in Fl. N. Zeal. i. 301. Aira cespitosa, Linn. Sp. Pl. 96. A. Kingii, Fl. Antarct. p. 376. t. 185. 
A. australis, Raoul, Choir des Plantes, p.12? (Gunn, 1464, 1465.) 
Has. Frequent in wet places, on low grounds, and the mountains.—(Fl. Nov.) (v. v.) 
Disrris. Victoria, New Zealand, Fuegia, throughout temperate and Arctic Europe, Asia, and North 
America. (Native of England.) 
A very common and beautiful Grass, usually perfectly smooth, pale-yellow, and shining.—Cuims tufted, 
6 inches to 23 feet high, slender, wiry. Leaves involute, sometimes setaceous. Panicle 3 inches to a foot long, 
loose, effuse; branches slender, whorled or fascicled, rough. Spikelets shining, yellow-green or purple, 4 inch 
long, two-flowered, with the villous pedicel of a third. Glumes nearly equal, acute, as long as the flowers, which 
are silky at the base, the upper on a long pedicel. Lower palea truncate, toothed at the tip with a short dorsal 
awn; upper as long, bifid. 
Gen. XVIII. TRISETUM, Kunth. 
Spicule 2—4-flore ; flore summo interdum tabescente. Give 2, carinatee, mutice, subequales v. inze- 
quales, floribus breviores. Palee 2; inferior bifida, dorso aristata, rarius mutica, arista tortili; superior 
bicarinata. Caryopsis libera, glabra.—Gramina plerumque monticola ; foliis planis v. involutis ; paniculis 
spicato-confertis, rarius diffusis. o 
The species of Trisetum are not numerous, and are generally mountain plants. One (T. subspicatum) is found 
on the mountains of most parts of the globe, when these are of sufficient altitude, inhabiting the Antarctic island» 
of Fuegia, the Falkland Islands, Campbell’s Island, and Tasmania, but has not hitherto been found in New 
Zealand.— Culms tufted. Leaves flat or convolute, smooth or downy. Panicles generally contracted and spike-like. 
Spikelets two- to four-flowered, the upper flower often incomplete. Glumes two, unegual or nearly equal, keeled, 
awnless, shorter than the flowers. Lower palea bifid, with two subulate teeth at the top, awned at the back (rarely 
awnless); awm twisted. Ovary glabrous. (Name from tres, three, and seta, a bristle.) 
l. Trisetum subspicatum (Pal. Beauv. Agrost. 88); cespitosum, foliis culmo brevioribus plani- 
usculis glabris pubescentibusve, culmo superne preecipue tomentoso, panicula subspicata densa subcylin- 
dracea, spiculis breve pedicellatis nitidis, glumis acuminatis puberulis floribus 2-3 brevioribus, palea in- 
feriore puberula acute bifida, arista retorta infra apicem inserta paleam seguante v. superante.— Kunth, 
En. Pl. i. 295 ; Nob. in Flor. Autarct. i. pp. 97 et 377. Aira subspicata, Zinn. Sp. Pl. ed. à. 95. (Gunn, 
1484.) : 
Has. Common in alpine localities: Arthur's Lakes, etc., Gunn, Archer.—(Fl. Jan.) (v. v.) 
DrisrRrB. Arctic Europe, Asia, and America, mountains of Middle and Southern Europe, of Asia from 
the Himalaya northward, and of both North and South America, Fuegia, the Falkland Islands, and 
Campbell’s Island. 
An inconspicuous but very widely distributed Grass, variable in size and habit, 6-18 inches high, densely 
tufted.—Leaves soft and herbaceous, 4-8 inches long, smooth and glabrous, or pubescent. Culms erect, always 
more or less downy, especially below the panicle. Panicle 1-3 inches long, much contracted, spicate and 
cylindrical. Spikelets imbricated, on very short pedicels, pale greenish-white, shining, 2 lines long, two- or three- 
flowered. Stalks of the florets with long hairs. Lower palea downy, bifid, with two sharp teeth, and a recurved awn 
inserted a short distance below the apex, as long as or longer than the palea. In Tasmanian specimens the leaves 
are quite glabrous, but are often very downy in other parts of the world. 
