75 



1. Arthraxon ciliare, Beauv : var. australe, Benth. 



Botanical name. — Arthraxon, from the Greek arthron a joint, axis 

 an axis or stem ; jointed to the stem, the spikelets being sessile in the 

 alternate notches of the articulate rhachis ; ciliare, Latin, hairy. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 524). — A broad-leaved, creeping, 

 straggling, much-branched grass. 



Stems slender, decumbent or creeping at the base, branching and ascending to about 



1 foot. 

 Leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, 1 to 1£ inches long, cordate at the base, the sheatha 



usually ciliate with long hairs. 

 Spikes usually three or four, shortly pedicellate, forming a little simple panicle of 



about 1 inch. 

 Rhachis and abortive pedicels glabrous. 



Spikelets few, rarely above 6 inches, each branch or spike about 2 lines long. 

 Outer glume acute, with about seven equally prominent more or less muricate nerves ; 



keel of the second glume ciliate towards the top. 

 Terminal or flowering glume obtuse, entire or very shortly two-lobed, the dorsal awn 



proceeding quite from the base, fine, and about twice as long as the spikelet. 



Value as a fodder. — A straggling slender grass which, according to 

 Bailey, seems to be well-liked by cattle. Duthie says it is considered 

 to be a good fodder-grass in Rajputana, India. 



Habitat and range. — Found in swamps ; the only two Australian 

 recorded localities being ~New England (New South Wales) and 

 Toowoomba (Queensland). This grass requires the further attention 

 of collectors. 



Found also in Asia. In India the normal species is found in the 

 plains of the north-west, and up to 7,000 feet on the Himalaya. 



28. POLLINIA. 



Spikelets one-flowered, in pairs in the alternate notches of the 

 articulate rhachis of simple spikes, one sessile or shortly pedicellate, 

 the other on a longer pedicel, but the two otherwise similar, the 

 spikes sessile and clustered, or rarely solitary at the end of the 

 common peduncle. 



Glumes four or three ; outer one the largest, membranous, awnless 

 with a truncate toothed or ciliate tip ; second usually thinner, keeled, 

 acute or produced into a fine straight awn ; third thin and hyaline or 

 deficient ; terminal or fourth glume a twisted and bent awn, contracted 

 and flexuose or hyaline, dilated and two-lobed at the base as in 

 Andropogon. 



Palea small and hyaline or none. 



Styles distinct. 



Grain eu closed in the outer glumes and free from them. 



Habit of Andropogon, section G-ymnandropogon, the spikes silky- 

 villous, rufous, or silvery-white as in A. sericeus and its allies, but the 

 pedicellate spikelets are ail, except sometimes at the base of the spike, 

 fertile, which is never the case in Andropogon. 



