97 



b.— Poaceae 



Tribe iv. — Phalaeideje. 

 38. Leersia. 43. Tetrarrliena. 



40. Potainophila. 44. Alopecurus. 



42. Microlgena. 47. Hierochloe. 



38. LEERSIA. 



Sjpikelets one-flowered, flat, articulate, on short pedicels along the 

 filiform branches of a terminal panicle. 



Glumes two, complicate and keeled, the outer one the largest. 



No two-nerved Palea. 



Stamens six or in species not Australian three or fewer. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the slightly hardened glumes, free from them. 



1. Leersia hexandra, Swartz. 



Botanical name. — Leersia, in honor of J. D. Leers, a German botanist; 

 hexandra, Greek hexa, six; aner, andros, a man (botany, stamen), in 

 allusion to the six stamens. 



Vernacular name. — ■" Rice Grass." 

 Where figured. — Bailey. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 549). — An erect though wea'K 

 glabrous grass, attaining several feet, often rooting in the mud at the 

 lower nodes. 



Leaves rather narrow, flat when fresh, mostly erect. 



Panicle oblong, 2 to 4 inches long, with erect or slightly spreading filiform flexuose 



branches. 

 SpiJcelets narrow-ovate, about 1^ lines long. 



Glumes membranous, acute, the outer one with a prominent nerve on each side 

 besides the marginal one ; the inner glume nearly as long, but narrower, with 

 only one nerve on each side near the margin. 

 Stamens six. 



Value as a fodder. — This grass is closely allied to that which pro- 

 duces rice. It is a semi-aquatic grass which is so sparingly distributed 

 in this Colony that we know but little of it from a pastoral point of 

 view, but it is not likely ever to be important to the raiser of stock. 

 It is, however, a tender grass, much liked by stock, and Duthie quotes 

 Symonds as stating that cattle are fond of it in India. 



' ' A widely-distributed perennial swamp-grass found in warm regions 

 of both hemispheres. In the Philippine Islands it is regularly culti- 

 vated, under the name of Zacate, for the purpose of supplying food 

 a 



