187 

 6. (Hyceria ramigera, P.v.M. 



Botanical names. — Ramigera — Latin, ramus, a brancli ; gero, I bear, 

 referring to the branching habit of the grass. 



Synonym. — Poa ramigera, F.v.M. 



Vernacular names. — " Cane Grass," " Bamboo Grass." 



Where figured. — Agr cultural Gazette. 



Botanical description (B. FL, vii, 659). — A tall glabrous rigid, almost 

 bamboo-like grass, branched at the base, and often bearing clusters 

 of branches higher up. 



Leaves convolute and fiat, few and short on the flowering stems. 



Panicle 4 to 8 inches long, loosety ovate or at length spreading. 



Spikelets rather numerous, usually 3 to 5 lines long with six to twelve flowers, but 

 sometimes longer, the rhachis glabrous. 



Outer glumes narrow, hyaline, acute, faintly one-nerved. 



Flowering glumes distant, about H lines long, broad and concave, hyaline, three- 

 nerved, the nerves all short, the central one not reaching much above the 

 middle. 



Grain not seen ripe, but apparently that of Glyceria. 



Value as a fodder. — Stock only eat the young shoots of this grass. 



Other uses. — A tall cane-like species, growing plentifully in large 

 detached tussocks in " clay pans," or as they are locally termed "cane 

 swamps." It is largely used for thatching purposes, for which it is 

 admirably adapted. Roofs twenty years old, made of this grass, are 

 standing, and are waterproof still. 



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

 interior species, found in clay soil liable to inundation. 



96. BEOMUS. 



Spihelets several-flowered, oblong or lanceolate, pedicellate, erect or 

 drooping in a more or less branched panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet 

 articulate between the flowering glumes, glabrous or scabrous- 

 pubescent. 



Outer empty glumes acute or fine -pointed, unawned. 



Flowering glumes convex on the back, five- or seven-nerved, the 

 hyaline apex usually shortly bifid, the midrib produced into a straight 

 or curved awn free from a little below tne apex. 



Palea nearly as long as the glume, the two prominent nerves usually 

 scabrous-ciliate. 



Ovary obovate, crowned by a hairy membranous appendage, the 

 very short distinct styles more or less lateral. 



Grain flattened, adhering to the palea, and often more or less to the 

 base of the glume. 



2. Bromus arenarius, Labill. 



- Botanical name. — Bromus, from the Greek word for a wild oat, 

 arenarius, Latin for sandy, in allusion to the situations in which some 

 of these grasses grow. 



