Paspeaum.] CLIII. GRAMINEJ!. 1815 



very flat, glabrous, with ciliate margins ; ligula- rather short and jagged, laitiina 

 narrow-oblong, apex blunt, hairy about the base, margins undulate and ciliate ; 

 lower leaves 4 or Sin. long and 7 to 8 lines broad, the upper one smaller. 

 Peduncle exceeding the upper leaf by about 2in. Spikes 2 or 3, hairy at the 

 base ; when 3 two at the end of the peduncle and the other ^in. lower ; about 2in. 

 long, rhachis slightly flexuose. Spikelets alternate, forming a single row ; outer 

 2 glumes marked with 2 green lines on each margin, softly hairy ; others nearly 

 white, nerveless, with a small tuft of hairs at the apex of the third. 



Hub.: Cairn* and along the Mulgrave road. Indigenous also in tropical Africa and America. 



2. ERIOCHLOA, Humb. and Kiyith. 



(Woolly grass.) 



(Helopua, Trin.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, without protruding awns, with a callous annular or almost 



cuplike base, articulate on a short pedicel, in 1 or 2 rows along 1 side of the 



slender branches of a simple panicle. Glumes 3, 2 outer ones empty, usually 



membranous, equal or nearly so, the 3rd or flowering glume shorter, of a firm 



coriaceous texture, obtuse but tippeel with a point or shoit awn not exceeding the 



outer glumes., Palea within the flowering glume coriaceous and involute. Styles 



distinct, rather long. Grain enclosed in the hardened palea and flowering glume 



and free from them. 



A small tropical genus, common to the New and the Old World. One species is probably- 

 endemic, the others have both a wide range in hot countries, 



3pH:elet3 usiially above IJ line long, the rhachis of the spikes and main axis 



of the panicle pubescent or hirsute 1. S. punctata. 



Spikelets, including the point, 2 lines long ; pedicel hairy 2. E. demmbens. 



iSpikelets.usiially under IJ line long, the rhachis and main axis glabrous . 3. E. annulata. 



1. XS. punctata (dotted), Hamilt. ; Kunth, Emm. i. 72 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 vii. 462. "An erect glaucous grass attaining 2 or 3ft., glabrous except the 

 inflorescence and sometimes a slight pubescence in the upper part. Leaves 

 rather long, flat or convolute when dry. Spikes or panicle-branches about 5 to 8, 

 distant, erect, secund, the lowest often above 2in. long, the others gradually 

 shorter, the rhachis as well as the main axis pubescent or hairy. Spikelets all 

 pedicellate," but often rather close, the pedicels 1 to 2 lines long, usually bearing a 

 few long hairs, the spikelet ovoid, acute or shortly acuminate, rather above 1^ 

 line long, seated on a. thick annular or almost cupular disk articulate on the 

 pedicel. Empty glumes membranous, broad, and usually 5-nerved, or the inner 

 one rather narrower and sometimes only 8-nerved, both more or less hairy outside 

 and sometimes rather densely covered with long hairs. Flowering glume much 

 shorter, coriaceous, faintly 8 or 5-nerved, obtuse, but the midrib produced into a 

 point or awn as long as the outer glumes as in Panktmi Ji^^opm ; Bail. 111. 

 Mono. Gr. Q, i. — Milium ■punctatum, Linn. ; R. Br, Prod. 188 ; Paspahim pnncta- 

 tum, Fliiggfe ; Trin, Spec. Gram. t. 155. 



Hab.: Shoalwater Bay, Keppel Bay, Broadiiound, R. Brown; Brisbane Eiver, Moreton Bay, 

 F,v. MuetlfT,' Prentice; Springsure, Wuth. 



2. E, decumbens (decumbent). Bail. Ql. Agric. Joimi. i., Pt. 1. A weak 

 decumbent grass, the stems slender and branching, often geniculate, 1 to 2ft. 

 long, more or less pubescent about the nodes. Leaves 3 to 5in. long, tapering 

 from the base to fine thread-like points, pubescent at top of sheath ; the ligula 

 reduced to cilia. Spikes or paniele-branches about 5, secund, lin. long, pedicels 

 with Qumefous long hairs especially nnder the spikelets; Spikelets silky, includ- 



