178 



Where figured. — Agricultural Gazette. 

 Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 649). — 



Stems slender, almost filiform, but rigid, 6 inches to 1 foot, or rarely lh, feet high, 



the base sometimes almost bulbous, but glabrous. 

 Leaves very narrow, almost setaceous, usually short. 



Panicle loose, 2 to 4 inches long, with short, spreading, rather rigid branches. 

 Spikelets few on the branches, shortly pedicellate, very narrow, 3 to 6 lines long, ten- 



to twenty-four-flowered, terete or very slightly flattened. 

 Flowering glumes closely appressed, broad, obtuse, scarcely £ line long, usually 



purple, keeled, but the lateral nerves very faint or obsolete, the rhachis scarcely 



articulate. 

 Palea nearly as long. 



" With the liabit and inflorescence nearly of E. chsetophylla, this has 

 the spikelets rather of E. falcata." (Benth.) 



Value as a fodder. — A why grass of little value. 



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

 and Western Australia. An interior species. 



18. Eragrostis falcata, Gaud. 



Botanical name. — Falcata, adjective, from the Latin falx, folds, a 

 sickle ; used in botany to denote anything curved, in allusion to the 

 curving of the spikelets. 



Where figured. — Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 649). — A slender, tufted, glabrous 

 grass, varying from a few inches to about 1 foot high. 

 Leaves narrow, convolute, erect. 



Panicle narrow, usually secund, slightly compound, 2 to 4 inches long. 



Spikelets sessile or nearly so, crowded or clustered along the short branches, very 



narrow, nearly terete, often curved, from 4 to 5 lines to 1 inch long and about 



J line broad, with twelve to fifty or even more flowers, the rhachis scarcely 



articulate. 



Flowering glumes closely appressed, scarcely 1 line long, obtuse, hyaline at the end, 



the keel and a lateral nerve on each side very prominent. 

 Palea rather shorter, curved, persistent. 

 Styles slender. 

 Grain ovate, flattened. 



Value as a fodder. — Isaac Tyson, quoted by Mueller, states that it 

 is one of the best pasture-grasses in arid tracts in sub-tropical Western 

 Australia. Such a statement is, of course, only comparative, for the 

 grass is by no means of the highest merit. It is a small grass, wiry 

 in appearance, with small leaves ; nevertheless, it affords useful feed 

 until it is burnt up by the summer droughts. Much of the plant 

 consists of inflorescence, and it produces seed readily. 



Habitat and range. — This grass is found in all the Colonies except 

 Tasmania. It is an interior species in most of the Colonies, although 

 it comes near the coast in the south-western part of the Continent. It 

 is common both on the far inland plains and also on the sand-ridges 

 that skirt them. 



Beference to Plate. — A. A typically falcate spikelet. B. Flowering glume, showing 

 three prominent nerves. 



