85 



Sessile spikelet narrow, 3 to 4 lines long, outer glumes rigid, acute, five- or seven- 

 nerved, the lateral nerves more prominent and muricate or hispid, with a few 

 short conical or rigid hairs. 



Second glume narrow, hispid only at the end, the keel produced into a fine straight 

 awn. 



Third thin and hyaline. 



Awn or terminal glume, long, rigid, and twisted in the lower part, the hyaline base 

 narrow, with short lobes sometimes obsolete. 



Pedicellate spikelets 3 to 5 lines long. 



Outer glume membranous, tapering into a short fine awn, the inner ones unawned. 



Value as a fodder. — A very good pasture-grass, not, however, 

 abundantly diffused in this Colony. O'Shanesy says it improves much 

 under cultivation. 



Other uses. — C. R. Dodge (Useful Fibre Plants) says : — u Known in 

 Italy as Barbone and Pollinia. From the fibrous roots horse-brushes 

 and other coarse brushes, mats, &c, are said to be made ; also used for 

 thatch material." 



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

 extending in New South Wales from the tableland to the interior. 

 It is also found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In India it is specially 

 found in the hilly parts of North India. 



2. Chrysopogon parviflorus, Benth. 



Botanical name. — Parviflorus , from two Latin words signifying 

 " small-flowered/' 



Synonyms. — C. violascens, Trim, is the oldest name, according to the 

 Index Kewensis. (The inflorescence has a violet or purplish cast.) 

 Baron von Mueller, designating it an Andropogon, adopts the name JL 

 micranthus, Kunth., in the Census (2nd ed.) and that of A. montanus r 

 Roxb.,) an Indian-grass in the Census (1st ed.) Certain it is that the 

 two grasses are very closely allied, and their properties are probably 

 identical. 



Vernacular names. — " Scented grass," owing to the sweet smell of the 

 panicle, which is particularly observable when crushed between the 

 fingers. 



Where figured. — Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 537). — Stems 2 or 3 or even nearly 

 4 feet high ; the nodes usually but not always bearded. 



Leaves narrow, scabrous, glabrous, or the lower sheaths pubescent or hairy. 



Panicle 4 to 8 inches long, with very numerous capillary branches, mostly clustered 

 and divided, the ultimate branches bearing in the typical form each a single 

 hermaphrodite spikelet between two pedicellate male ones, the pedicels and base 

 of the sessile spikelet ciliate. 



Spikelets scarcely 1^ lines long. 



Outer glume acute, not awned, finely many-nerved. 



Axon capillary, 3 to 6 lines long, without any basal dilatation. 



Mr. F. M. Bailey has described a variety, flavescens, of this grass, 

 and says of it : " This lovely and very distinct form is in some localities 

 upon the Darling Downs, Queensland, plentiful. Instead of the usual 

 purplish colour, the inflorescence is of a pleasing yellow." 



