78 



" This is one of the most remarkable of the Queensland grasses. 

 Anyone seeing it when in flower would be surprised if told it was 

 probably, for Downs country, one of the best that could be grown; 

 yet nevertheless such is the case. The flowering stalks attain 4 or 5 

 feet in height, but its shortly creeping root-stock forms a very close 

 leafy turf, before and even when the plant is in flower." (Bailey.) 



S. M. Tracey, in Bulletin No. 20, Mississippi Experiment Station, 

 U.S.A., writes: — "Australian Blue-grass (Andropogon erianthoides) is 

 a perennial species from Australia, which has been cultivated in a 

 few localities for a number of years, and advertised to a considerable 

 extent, but its growth has not been very satisfactory here. It is so 

 tender that it barely lives through the winter in this latitude, and 

 starts into growth late in the spring, though it makes an excellent 

 growth during summer and will give two good cuttings of fine, tender, 

 and nutritious hay. The leaves are killed by a moderate frost, and it 

 fails to hold the ground against the encroachment of other grasses. 

 Several other species of Andropogon from Australia and from India 

 have also been tested, but this appears to be the best of the genus, 

 and the only foreign one which makes any promise of final success." 



Habitat and range. — Found in New South Wales and Queensland. 

 In this colony it is principally found in the Western districts, but it 

 is also recorded from the Monaro. 



2. Andropogon sericeus, R.Br. 



Botanical name. — Sericeus — Latin, silky, in allusion to the appear- 

 ance of the spikes. 



Vernacular names. — The " Blue-grass " par excellence of Queens- 

 land and New South Wales ; has been sent from Mudgee under the 

 name of " Canary-grass." 



Where figured. — Bailey, Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 529). — Perennial, 



Stems erect, branching at the base, usually rather slender and 1 to 2 feet high, with 

 narrow leaves chiefly at the base, but sometimes twice that height with larger 

 leaves, the nodes bearded. 



Spikes in the typical form two or three or rarely twice as many, sessile at the top 

 of a slender peduncle, without sheathing bracts, all 1 to 2 inches long and densely 

 clothed with long silky hairs on the outer glumes, as well as on the rhachis and 

 pedicels. 



Spikelets scarcely two lines long, the pedicellate one reduced to a many-nerved silky- 

 hairy glume enclosing a second small hyaline lanceolate one. 



Outer glume of the sessile spikelet rather rigid, obtuse or nearly so, about five-nerved, 

 with long silky hairs on the back, and a short scarious ciliate tip. 



Second glume keeled, acute, glabrous. 



Third very small, broad, thin, and hyaline. 



Awn or terminal glume f to 1^ inches long, without any hyaline dilatation at the 



Value as a fodder. — One of the best and most widely diffused of our 

 grasses. Valuable alike for pasture and for hay. Very fattening, 

 and much liked by stock of all kinds. 



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

 all the districts of this colony, and in all sorts of soils and situations. 

 "Very widely distributed. Occurs also in Asia, the Phillippine Islands, 

 and New Caledonia. 



