56 



7. PENNISETUM. 



Spihelets one-flowered, solitary or two or three together ; sessile, 

 or nearly so ; each one enclosed in an involucre of several usually 

 numerous simple or plumose bristles (probably awn-like branches of 

 the panicle), the involucres crowded in a spike or spike-like simple 

 panicle, falling off from the main rhachis with the spikelet -and short 

 peduncle. 



Glumes four, the outer one shorter or sometimes minute. 



Second and third both empty. 



Fruiting glume usually smaller. 



Palea perfect. 



Styles distinct or united almost to the plumose stigmas. 



Nut enclosed in the more or less hardened glume and palea ; free 

 from it. 



1. Pennisetum compressum, H.Br. 



Botanical name. — Pennisetum — Latin, penna a feather, and seta a 

 bristle, each spikelet being enclosed in an involucre of feathery bristles; 

 compressum, pressed close or flattish, the stem being flattish. 



Synonym. — P. japonicum, Trin. ' ' Closely allied to, if not identical, 

 with this species." (B. PI.). 



Vernacular name. — " Swamp Foxtail Grass." 



Wliere figured. — Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 495). — 



Stems 2 to 3 feet high, erect, usually very scabrous and more or less hirsute under 

 the panicle, glabrous and smooth lower down. 



Leaves long and narrow, glabrous, the ligula prominent. 



Involucres nearly sessile in a simple cylindrical dense spike of 3 to 6 inches, con- 

 sisting of numerous very unequal bristles, the inner more rigid ones varying 

 from ^ to 1 inch. 



Outer ones much shorter and finer, mostly minutely scabrous-ciliate, but none of 

 them plumose. 



Spikelet solitary, within the involucre ; narrow, terete, rather acute, about 3 lines 

 long. 



Outer glume under \ line long, orbicular. 



Second glume, from one-third to one-half the length of the spikelet. 



Third many-nerved, empty. 



Fruiting glume scarcely more rigid than the third. 



Styles united up to the feathery branches. 



Value as a fodder. — It is a coarse-growing, fibrous grass, little eaten 

 by stock except when young and comparatively tender ; when it is old 

 it is as full of fibre as almost any sedge. It grows in large tufts, and 

 when in flower is of an ornamental character. 



Habitat and range. — Confined to New South Wales and Queensland, 

 occurring from the southern districts of our Colony from the coast to 

 the tableland. Often found on the margins of swamps, and frequently 

 as tussocks in paddocks in cold districts. 



