494 Transactions.— Botany. 
From R. flexuosus, the common Native Dock, itis at once distinguished 
by the branched rootstock, rosulate leaves, peculiar habit, stout depressed 
panicle, and crowded inflorescence, and especially by the tuberculated inner 
lobes of the perianth. 
Arr. LXXI.— Notes on the Economic Properties of certain Native Grasses. 
3 By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 
(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 11th November, 1876.] 
Tue following notes embody the result of observations made in different | 
parts of the Colony, and extending over a lengthened period. They are 
placed on record chiefly in the hope of assisting those settlers who are test- 
ing the value of our Native Grasses by actual experiment. The fact that in 
Auckland and Canterbury, seeds of some few Native Grasses and condimental 
plants are now in demand at remunerative prices, may be taken as a proof 
of the success of their efforts, and of the interest taken in the subject. If 
we consider the valuable aid afforded by a few native species in facilitating 
the progress of settlement in the Southern Island, we shall find that its im- 
portance cannot be easily over estimated. 
If a colonial botanic garden had been in existence, on a proper basis, 
many important questions connected with the subject would have been 
solved years ago, and the welfare of the community advanced. Many 
doubtful points of interest can only be made clear by experiments extending 
over a series of years, and conducted on a uniform plan. Work of this 
kind is of necessity costly, and it would be unreasonable to expect that the 
few settlers who are competent to conduct investigations of this kind should 
do so at their own expense. Experiments of this kind can only be carried 
out at the cost of the community, and it is to be hoped that New Zealand 
will not much longer be the only Australasian Colony in which no provision 
is made by the Government for an experimental botanic garden.* 
Microlena stipoides, Br. 
This is a common grass north of the Taupo country, becoming rather 
local in the southern part of the North Island, although it crosses Cook 
Strait and is found growing freely about Nelson. It is a nutritious grass, 
closely eropped by horses, cattle, and sheep, wherever it grows, and is 
taking its place in permanent pasture about Auckland and Wellington. On 
the shingle at the mouths of some of the small streams running into Cook 
Strait it is almost the only grass, and the first to commence a new growth 
after the winter rest. 
* See “ Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” Vol. IL, p. 102; Vol. IV., p. 292. 
