Ill 



rolled round the flower, with a terminal undivided bent awn spirally 

 twisted below the bend. 



Palea enclosed in the flowering glume. 



Lodicules usually large. 



Anthers usually tipped with a tuft of hairs. 



Styles distinct. 



Grain narrow, enclosed in the hard upper glume, but free from it. 

 A short continuation of the rliachis of the spikelet above the articula- 

 tion forms usually a stipes to the flower and fruit, falls off with it, and 

 is usually ciliate with short hairs ; the awn is more or less distinctly 

 articulate on the flowering glume, but usually remains attached to it 

 after it falls. 



The genus Stipa contains about 100 species. Australia claims 

 fifteen, New Zealand two, one* of which is also found in Australia, 

 while the others are natives of America and Asia. The United States 

 has twenty-three species, and some of these have well marked varieties. 

 In that country they are not, at least at present, accounted of much 

 importance to the grazier, and no experiments appear to have been 

 undertaken to determine their specific fodder value. 



Flowering glume glabrous or slightly hairy at the end, very shortly 

 produced into hyaline lobes or entire. Palea very small or 

 rarely half as long as the glume. 

 Panicle branches long and plumose. Spikelets 4 to 6 lines long...l. S. elegantissima. 

 Panicle very much branched, glabrous or slightly pubescent. 



Spikelets scarcely 1^ lines long ... ... ... ... ... 2. S. micrantha. 



Flowering glume silky hairy, the hyaline margins at the end produced 

 into a small lobe on each side of the awn. Palea nearly as 

 long as the glume. Panicle narrow and compact. 

 Outer glumes acute, under \ inch, usually yellowish brown. Lobes 



of the flowering glume very small 3. S. jtavescens. 



Flowering glume silky-hairy, the margins not dilated under the awn. 

 Palea nearly as long as the glume. 

 Ligula elongated, not ciliate. Panicle loose. Leaves slender, filiform 8. S. setacea. 

 Ligula short, ciliate. Panicle dense, 6 to 10 inches long. Awn 



plumose hairy in the lower part, 1^ to 4 inches long... ... 9. 8. semibarbata. 



Ligula short, cliate. Awn glabrous or slightly pubescent. 



Lowest glume usually slightly dilated and truncate or toothed at 

 the end. Flowering glume narrow. Panicle dense or at 

 length long and loose ... ... ... ... ... ... 11. S. pubescens. 



Lowest glume usually three-pointed. Flowering glume rather 



broad. Panicle very loose... ... ... ... ... 12. S. arUtiglumis. 



Lowest glume always fine pointed. Leaves slender, glabrous or 

 pubescent, the upper sheaths sometimes dilated. Panicle 

 loose ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 15. S. scabra. 



1. Stipa elegantissima, Labill. 



Botanical name. — Stipa — Latin for et tow," in allusion to the feathery 

 awns of the original species (S. pennata) . In some species the awn 

 is naked. Elegantissima, superlative of elegans, signifying handsome. 

 This is a most beautiful grass. 



Where figured. — Labillardiere. 



*Two, if S. Petriei be reducible to S. setacea. See Bentham, Proc. Linn. Soc, xix., 288. 



