128 



Glumes thinly scarious, two outer empty ones nearly equal, acute ; 

 flowering glumes close above them, shorter, thin and hyaline, finely 

 pointed or shortly bifid, with a fine awn dorsally attached below the 

 middle, and twisted at the base. 



Palea two-nerved. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain enclosed in, and more or less adnate to, the very thin glume 

 and palea. 



1. Aira caryophyllea, Linn. 



Botanical name. — Aira. Dioscorides called a grass by this name, 

 but the origin of the word is doubtful. Linnasus adopted this name, 

 though the g*rass is not identical with that of Dioscorides. Caryo- 

 phyllea — Latin, a clove gilly-flower, having foliage resembling that of 

 a pink. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 585). — A slender, elegant, tufted 

 annual, rarely above 6 inches high. 



Leaves short and fine. 



Panicle loose and spreading, the capillary branches in pairs or threes. 

 Spikelets erect, silvery-shining. 



Outer glumes 1 to H lines long, almost scarious, very acute. 



Flowering glumes shorter, the dorsal awn projecting about a line beyond the outer 

 glume. 



Value as a fodder. — Unknown. 



Habitat and range. — Found in Tasmania, Victoria, and New South 

 Wales. In the last named Colony it has been recorded from the 

 Mudgee district. It is a native of most temperate countries. 



59. DESCHAMPSIA. 



Spikelets two-flowered, in a loose or rarely contracted panicle with 

 slender branches, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate, hairy, more or 

 less produced between the flowering glumes and beyond the upper one 

 as a hairy bristle, or rarely bearing- a terminal empty glume. 



Glumes keeled, with thinly scarious sides, two outer empty ones 

 rather acute ; flowering glumes obtuse or truncate, and more or less 

 four-toothed, with a fine dorsal awn attached below the middle, the 

 lowest close above the empty glumes, the upper raised on a stipes (the 

 rhachis of the spikelet) . 



Palea prominently two-nerved, often two-toothed. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain enclosed in the glume and palea, usually free from them. 

 Perennial grasses with the shining spikelets of Trisetum and Aira, 

 usually smaller than in the former, larger than in the latter genus. 



1. Deschampsia csespitosa, Beauv. 



Botanical names. — Deschampsia, after M. H. Deschamps, a French 

 chemist (? naturalist), who accompanied La Perouse's disastrous 

 expedition. Ctespitosa, a Latin adjective derived from csespes, a turf 

 or sod. 



