131 



teeth and a recurved awn inserted a short distance below the apex ; 

 subspicatum — Latin, sub nearly, spicatus eared like corn, equivalent 

 to ." somewhat spikelike." 



Vernacular name. — " Spiked Oat-grass " (Buchanan). 



Where figured. — Buchanan; Vasey; Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. Fl., vii, 588) : — ■ 



A tufted perennial varying- from 6 inches to above 2 feet high. 



Leaves flat, glabrous or rarely pubescent, the sheaths rather loose, the ligula large 



and scarious. 

 Panicle dense, almost spikelike, but much interrupted or shortly branched in the 



lower part, 2 to 4 inches long, silvery-shining as in Deschampsia. 

 Spikelets loose and flattened, the lowest outer glume nearly 2 lines long, the second 



rather longer, the keel minutely ciliate. 

 Lowest flowering glume sessile above the outer ones, 2^ to near 3 lines long, the awn 



sometimes scarcely exceeding it, sometimes twice as long. 

 Upper flowering glume smaller but inserted higher up so as to be raised to the same 



level and sometimes containing only a male flower, the rhachis produced beyond 



it into a slender bristle, rarely bearing a terminal empty glume. 



Value as a fodder. — A perennial grass of the mountainous regions 

 of Europe and North America ; undoubtedly furnishes a considerable 

 portion of mountain pasturage. (Yasey.) 



It seems improbable that a grass of such vitality and adaptation 

 could be otherwise than valuable, and so, no doubt, it will prove to be 

 when stockowners are enabled to distinguish it from other species. 

 (Buchanan.) 



Habitat and range. — Few grasses have such a range as this, nor am 

 I acquainted with any other Arctic species which is equally an 

 inhabitant of the opposite polar regions. (Hooker.) 



It occurs in Tasmania, Yictoria, and New South Wales, in our own 

 Colony being confined to the southern mountain ranges. Abundant 

 on Mount Kosciusko, even to the summit. 



62. AMPHIBROMUS. 



Spikelets several-flowered, in a loose panicle, the rhachis of the 

 spikelet articulate, hairy and slender between the flowering glumes. 



Outer empty glumes acute, keeled, with scarious margins, five- 

 nerved near the base. 



Flowering glumes more rigid, prominently five-nerved, with a dorsal 

 twisted and bent awn attached about the middle. 



Palea prominently two-toothed. 



Styles short, distinct. 



Grain glabrous, enclosed in the glume and palea, and, perhaps, 

 adnate. 



Seed deeply furrowed. 



1. Amphibromus Neesii, Steud. 



Botanical name. — Amphibromus, from two Greek words, amphi, 

 " around ; ' or " on both sides " ; bromus, a wild oat, in reference to 

 the resemblance of the grass to a bromus, but the glumes are not 



