NATIVE GRASSES. 41 



3 inches ; flat with long taper from base to tip ; down- 

 wards rough ; hgule not seen, being replaced by a very 

 strong ring of hairs — the only hairs on the plant ; flower 

 stalks up to 18 inches high, ending in 4 or 5 stiff spikes one to 

 two inches long, on which the spikelets are closely arranged. 

 This grass is usually a weed, but its drought resistance 

 accounts for its occasional inclusion in lawn mixtures in 

 dry and warm districts. 



Section 2. Native Grasses. 



Some of the most important native grasses have been 

 mentioned in Chapter I., but a few others have a certain 

 feeding value and occupy vast areas of land, so that they 

 merit a brief description. The chief ones are as follows : — 



(1) Danthonia spp., see page 25. 



(2) Mieroloena stipoides, see p. 27. 



(3) Tussock or Silver Tussock (Festuca novae zealandiae 

 and Poa caespitosa) . — These tussocks are estimated to cover 

 six million acres of land, or one seventh of aU the occupied 

 country in New Zealand. Their yellowbristly leaves are about 

 18 inches high, and as the name implies, they grow in tufts. 

 The two species are hardly ever separated by the grazier, but 

 the Festuca grows on higher country and the flowers have awns, 

 while the Poa belongs chiefly to the plains and the flowers 

 are broader and awnless. It seems to be agreed that sheep 

 never eat silver tussock except immediately after it is burnt. 

 Cattle, however, eat it freely, and pull much more than they 

 eat, so that if closely grazed by cattle the tussock is in time 

 exterminated. Rabbits, too, wiU eat Tussock, but for sheep 

 country, the only suggested use of this grass when unburnt 

 is to shelter other and better grasses. The question of burn- 

 ing Tussock land is dealt^with by Cockayne (see reference at 

 end of Chapter V.) and some suggestions for the improve- 

 ment of Tussock land will be found near the end of this work. 



