52 



Other uses. — In former years, the seeds of this grass were gathered 

 in large quantities by the aborigines as an article of food, and being 

 ground between two stones, were converted into a kind of meal. 



Habitat and range. — Found in all the colonies except Tasmania and 

 Western Australia, in the interior. 



O'Shanesy speaks in the following words of a Queensland grass, 

 probably allied to the last few species : — " Also from the seeds of a tall 

 grass (evidently a Panicum), known by the aborigines as 'Pawpa,' 

 which is treated in a similar manner to the yellow-box seeds. Hats 

 are made from the stem of this grass simply by sewing them together/' 



4. OPLISMENUS. 



Spikelets with one terminal hermaphrodite flower and a rudimentary 

 one below it, awned, clustered along the secund distant branches of a 

 simple panicle. 



Glumes four, the lowest empty one not much shorter than the others, 

 and with a longer awn, the flowering glume awnless and hardened with 

 the palea round the grain as in Panicum. 



Lower branches of the panicle | to 2 inches long 1.0. compositus. 



All the branches of the panicle reduced to sessile clusters ... 2. 0. setarius. 



1. Oplismenus compositus, Beauv. 



Botanical name. — Oplismenus, from the Greek, opleei armed (verb 

 oplizo), perhaps in allusion to the slender but prominent awns; 

 compositus, Latin, composite or set together, the inflorescence being 

 much more composite than 0. setarius, and perhaps than all other 

 species of Oplismenus. 



Where figured. — Trinius, Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii., 491). — Usually a weak grass, softly 

 pubescent or villous, but sometimes nearly glabrous. 



Stems decumbent or creeping and rooting at the base, ascending sometimes to abore 



1 foot. 

 Leaves from linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4 to 5 inches long in the larger 



specimens, but more frequently under 2 inches. 

 Panicle slender, consisting of four to eight or rarely more distant one-sided branches 



or spikes, of which the lowest slender ones are 2 inches long in the most 



luxuriant specimens, scarcely h inch long in others, the upper ones or sometimes 



the greater number reduced to short clusters. 

 Spikelets glabrous, pubescent, or hirsute, rather above 1 line long, in distinct 



clusters of two or three each along the longer branches, crowded on the shorter 



ones. 

 Glumes, three lower ones membranous, five-nerved, the lowest not much shorter than 



the others, tapering into a rather long smooth awn ; the second with a small point 



or short awn, or only acuminate ; the third rather larger, awnless, with a small 



hyaline palea or rudimentary flower in its axil. 

 Flowering glume nerveless, smooth, and hard, as well as the palea round the grain. 



Value as a fodder. — Affords a bite for stock, but it is so closely 

 appressed to the ground that they do not often touch it ; it may also 

 not be palatable. 



