69 



Sub-tribe ii. — Rottboelliejs. 

 19. HEMARTHRIA. 



Spikelets in pairs, in the alternate notches of a simple spike, one 

 sessile and half embedded in a cavity of the scarcely articulate 

 rhachis with one hermaphrodite flower, the other on a closely appressed 

 and often adnate pedicel reduced to two or three empty glumes, the 

 spikes single on each peduncle above a sheathing bract, and often 

 flattened. 



Glumes in the sessile spikelet four, the outer one appressed and 

 covering the cavity of the rhachis, the second thinner and concave or 

 keeled, the third and fourth and the palea in the fourth thin and 

 hyaline. 



Styles distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the glumes, but free from them. 



1. Hemarthria compressa, R.Bi\ 



Botanical name.— From the Greek words hemi, half, and arthron, a 

 joint; half -jointed, referring to the spike. Compressa, Latin, flattened, 

 referring* to the spike of this species. 



Synonym. — Rottboellia compressa, Beauv. 



Vernacular names. — " Mat Grass," " Mackay Sugar Grass" (in 

 Queensland), " Needle Grass/' " so called by me from the appear- 

 ance of the spike just before flowering." (Bacchus.) 



Allied grasses are known as " Rat-tail Grass " in the United States. 



Where figured. — Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 510). — ■ 



Stems decumbent or creeping at the base, rather rigid, ascending to 1 foot or rather 

 more, slightly branched. 



Leaves narrow, glabrous, or the lower ones sprinkled with a few long hairs. 



Spikes solitary on the branches or nearly so, more or less compressed, rigid, 3 to 5 

 inches long, often 1| lines broad. 



Spikelets all closely appressed, 3 to 3^ lines long. 



Outer glume many-nerved, tapering into a very variable point, sometimes very short 

 and straight, especially in the sessile spikelet, sometimes elongated and fine or 

 minutely hooked at the extremity, or in southern specimens especially towards 

 the end of the spike, terminating in a rather long inflexed rigid hook. In the 

 pedicellate spikelet the point of the outer glume is often longer, finer, and 

 straight, but occasionally that also is hooked, and more rarely the second glume 

 ends in a small hook. 



Value as a fodder. — A strong rambling grass, with creeping roots, 

 found on undrained heavy clay or wet, sour soils, and hence useful for 

 encouraging in land of that description. Its inflorescence is not con- 

 spicuous, and hence many people do not distinguish this grass from 

 others. Bailey describes it as " a rather harsh, wiry grass, the flattish 

 stems often extending the length of 5 or 6 feet. It affords a coarse 

 fodder around swamps and the margins of rivers, which is of value 

 during very dry seasons. The flattened running stems are very sweet, 

 and as the water dries up in the swamps, these are greedily eaten by 

 stock ; horses are said to leave all else for these stems." Bacchus, a 



