﻿BucHAN'AN. — On some New Species of Plants. 225 



slender, glabrous. Leaves 3-4 inclies long, involute, filiform, rigid, setaceovis ; 

 secund on the outer culms, glabrous ; ligule none ; slieaths broad, with long 

 silky hairs at mouth ; panicle 1-1 J inches long ; spikelets 3-4 on short pilose 

 pedicels 6-7 lines long, 4-^7 flowered. Flowers unisexual ; empty glumes 

 unequal, oblong lanceolate ; flowering glumes not included 4—5 lines long ; 

 hispid on the margins, and with long silky hairs at base and on sides, deeply 

 bifid ; awn one half longer than glume, recxirved, flattened, and twisted like 

 a coi'kscrew ; scale fimbriate on the top. 



This grass is found at considerable altitudes, and covered by the snows of 

 winter during several months in the year ; it forms a very coarse herbage for 

 sheej), although like other species, of the genus, the early growth of spring is 

 more gra,teful and nutritious ; the close compacted mass of stems, leaf sheaths 

 and roots, in this and other Dantltonice become blanched and succulent, and 

 are relished much by wild pigs, which root them up ; this food is also exten- 

 sively eaten by rats, which swarm on the grass lands of the South Island, and 

 are vegetable feeders in those districts. 



Collected by J. Buchanan, on the Kaikoura Mountains, and by H. H. 

 Travers, near Lake Guyon^ Nelson. 



DantJwnia semi-annularis, Br. 

 d. alpina, Buchanan, n. sub-sp. 



Culms numerous, 12-16 inches high, slender, rigid, glabrous. Leaves as 

 long as the culms, glabrous, filiform, setaceous, excessively numerous ; ligule 

 none ; mouth of sheath with a very few erect hairs ; panicle 1|— 2 inches 

 long, of 2-3 short, erect, branches, broad ; spikelets |- inch long, 3-5 on each 

 branch, 4-6 flowered ; empty glumes | inch long, white, nearly eqial, longer 

 than the spikelet ; lower flowering glume villous, with tufts of hair at the 

 base and on the sides to above the middle, deeply bifid ; lateral awns shorter 

 than the glumes ; central awn slightly twisted, flat, as long as the glume, with 

 lateral awns included, reflected or inflected ; upper glume truncate or scarcely 

 bifid, not villous ; margins of glumes and awns scabrid ; the anthers are much 

 longer than in the other varieties. 



This variety of D. semi-annularis is an abundant grass on the bald-headed 

 mountains of the South Island, near Dusky Bay, forming a close sward of 

 harsh pasture above the limits of bush, the mountains being covered by snow 

 during winter, and its weight bearing so long on the grass, it shows flattened 

 and appressed to the ground on their melting in spring. 



The varieties of this species are very wide spread grasses in New Zealand, 

 more common, however, at low altitudes, where they are found diffused over the 

 pastures in single plants or small tufts, and are considered excellent feed for 

 ■sheep and cattle. 



