179 



92. PDA. 



Spikelets several usually few-flowered, in a panicle usually loose and 

 spreading, rarely narrow and spikelike, tlie rhachis of the spikelet 

 articulate between the flowering glumes. 



Glumes keeled, unawned, the outer empty ones rather short, one- or 

 three-nerved, sometimes acute, the flowering ones usually obtuse, five- 

 nerved, often surrounded by a few loose woolly hairs, rarely with 

 seven or more nerves. 



Palea nearly as long, prominently two-nerved or two-keeled. 

 Grain enclosed in the glume and palea and falling off with them, 

 but free or rarely adnate to the palea. 



Perennials. — Grain enclosed in the glume and palea, but free from them. 

 Leaves setaceous or rigid and convolute or flat ending in long 

 points. Panicle dense and contracted, or spreading. Spikelets 

 usually four- to six-flowered. Glumes and palea glabrous or 

 with woolly hairs at the base ... ... ... ... ... 3. P. ccespitosa* 



Leaves flat, narrow, acuminate. Panicle rather dense. Spikelets 

 five- to eight-flowered, the keels of the glumes ciliate-pubescent. 

 Stems knotty at the base ... ... ... ... ... ... 5. P. nodosa. 



Annuals. — Leaves flat, flaccid. 



Panicle narrow. Spikelets clustered, 3 lines long. Flowering glumes 

 seven-to eleven-nerved, the keel ciliate at the base with long 

 hairs 8. P. hpida. 



3. Foa ceespitosa, Eorst. 



Botanical name. — Poa, the Greek word for grass ; csespitosa — Latin, 

 pertaining to a turf or sod. 



Vernacular names. — " Wiry-grass,' ' called "Bowat" by the Yarra 

 ( Victoria) aborigines. 



Where figured. — Buchanan ; Agricultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. M., vii, 651). — An exceedingly variable 

 species from under 1 to 3 feet high, usually densely tufted and 

 glabrous. 



Leaves narrow, flat, convolute, or setaceous, chiefly at the base, sometimes longer 

 than the inflorescence, sometimes very short, the ligula always very short or 

 obsolete. 



Panicle branched, compact, or spreading. 



Spikelets usually four- to six-flowered. 



Flowering glumes usually surrounded by a few fine woolly hairs, but sometimes the 

 whole spikelet glabrous, the cilia of the palea-keels when present very minute. 



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



This is one of the most variable of the Australian grasses, and I 

 give an account of its principal varieties chiefly from Bentham [Flora 

 Australiensis) and from Bacchus (Rept., Department Agriculture, 

 Victoria, 1874). 



1. Yar. plebeia, Benth. — Tall and leafy, leaves narrow, flat or more 

 or less convolute. Panicle exceeding the leaves, rather large and 

 loose. Glumes 2 to 2^ lines long, usually surrounded by a few woolly 

 hairs. Port Jackson (also Western Australia). 



