58 



agreed thai the name of .4. ciliata, L.f., adopted by Bentham 

 in the "Flora Australiensis" and by Mueller in his 1st and 2nd 

 Census, must be abandoned. A. ciliata is an annual grass, 

 native in India and introduced in South Africa, but not 

 found in Australia, while A. imberbis is a perennial grass, 

 distributed throughout Australia, India, and parts of Africa. 

 Retzius' name is the oldest for this plant, with the exception 

 of Themeda triandra, Forsk. (1775), but the generic name 

 Themeda fell into disuse for over one hundred years and all 

 attempts to revive it seem destined to failure, although it was 

 not placed by the Botanical Congress of Vienna on the index 

 of names to be rejected. The synonymy is fully dealt with 

 by J. D. Hooker in FL Brit. Ind., vii., 212. 



Aristida Behriana, F. v. M. Numerous in a paddock 

 of ringed gums two or three miles north of Melrose. Appar- 

 ently a very localized and comparatively rare grass. The 

 ascending stems only 4-8 cm. long below the inflorescence and 

 the rhizome thick and matted. The description in the "Fl. 

 Aust." and in Tate's "Fl. Extratrop., S.A.," should be altered 

 from "outer glumes nearly equal" to 'outer glumes unequal, 

 the lower about half as long as the upper." The description 

 is correctly given by Mueller and Moore. Also at Moolooloo 

 (Dist. S: S. A. White). 



Cyperaceae. 



Cyperus Iria, L. Near Tarcoola (Dist. W : J. W. 

 Mellor). C Gunnii, Hook, f. Myponga; Mount Barker. 

 United by Mueller and Tate with C. luctdus, from which it 

 differs by having the spikelets in dense globular heads. C. 

 pygmaeus, Rottb. River Murray (Dist. M; H. H. D. Griffith). 

 This species, and not the ver} 7 similar Scirpus Michelianus, 

 L., is supposed is be represented in Australia, but the Murray 

 specimens have at least some of the glumes in each spikelet 

 arranged irregularly round the rhachis, the style is 2-3-fid, 

 and the glumes are 3-nerved, the two lateral nerves very 

 faint. These three characters point to S. Michelianus rather 

 than to C. pygmaeus. 



Scirpus setaceus, L. Melrose (Dist. N). Nuts of the 

 typical form, subglobular, not exceeding f mm. in length, of 

 a dull -white colour, with about 16 clathrate longitudinal ribs. 

 In all the flowers examined only two stamens were found. 

 S. cernuus, Vahl, aim. 1806 (S. riparius, Poir., aim. 1820), 

 with still weaker stems and shorter involucral bract, from 

 National Park, Belair, and Nuriootpa ; the nut about the 

 same size, shining, finely punctulate : both species growing in 

 moist spots. S. antarcticuSj L., ami. 1771 (S. cartilagineus, 

 Poir., aim. 1820). Myponga : scrub between Murray Bridge 



