﻿298 Transactions. — Botany. 



Ceratoohloa unioloides, P. de Beauv. Prairie grass. — I^ot cultivated in 

 this province to any extent, but has become largely naturalized. Affords a 

 very heavy yield, but on the whole appears better adapted for fodder than 

 pasturage. When young it is eaten by cattle with avidity, but is usually passed 

 over when old. Would jDrobably possess greater value in Canterbury than in 

 this province, as it roots deeply, and is able to endure a considerable amount 

 of droiight. 



Stenotaphrum glahrum. Buffalo grass. — A smooth, stout-growing, pro- 

 cumbent grass ; a great favourite with sheep, horses, and cattle, even when 

 associated with rye-grasses and other ordinary cultivated kinds. It is rare 

 here at present, but will, I anticipate, prove of great value, especially for 

 planting on our clay tea-tree hills. At present it has not seeded freely, but 

 may be expected to do so. 



I regret my inability to give either native or settler's names of the native 

 grasses, as requested. Yery few indeed of our northern natives have any 

 knowledge of the old native names, and my residence in the colony has been 

 but short. Hierochloe redolens, and the more valuable Isachne ausfralis, ai-e 

 alike called " Swamp-grass " by the settlers. Sporoholus elongatus is generally 

 known as " Rat's-tail grass " as far south as Lake Taupo ; but at Port 

 Waikato it is called " Chilian-grass," as it is erroneously supposed to have 

 been introduced with the so-called " Chilian groundsel " Erigeron canadensis, 

 a plant which appears to have been brought to this colony with grass seed 

 from South America. I am not aware that other native grasses have received 

 special names in this province, The common names for introduced grasses 

 are applied in a somewhat arbitrary mannex", which has occasionally proved a 

 source of loss and vexation. 



Several of the native-grasses, as Microloina stipoides, Danthonia semi- 

 annularis, Agrostis cemula, etc., maintain their ground against, and unite 

 with, several of the introduced kinds in the formation of natural pasture in 

 many places in this province. The kinds just mentioned may often be seen 

 mixed with Agrostis vulgaris, Anthoxanthum odoratum, etc., and especially 

 with the little Yellow Suckling, Trifolium minus, forming large patches of 

 gradually extending herbage amongst the tea-tree about Auckland. Some 

 paddocks on the west side of the city appear to have been spontaneously 

 formed in this way, although they have been improved by the depasturing of 

 cattle. 



The common red and white clovers, and the various medicks, with other 

 forage plants, are largely naturalized in the province, and yield a large 

 quantity of grateful food. On the volcanic hills about Auckland the toothed 

 and spotted medicks, Medicago denticulata and M. maculata, yield largely in 

 winter and early spring ; the yarrow {Achillea Millefolium) is occasionally 



