Chamim-aphis.] CLIII. GRAMINEiE. 1835 



bearing only a single spikelet near the base, the lower ones only occasionally 

 more elongated with 2 distant spilcelets, the rhachis always produced into a long 

 awn exceeding the spikelet. Spikelets acuminate, 4 to 5 lines long. Outer 

 glume broad, thinly membranous, about ^ line long, the 2nd and 3rd glumes 

 nearly equal, striate with many nerves; "fruiting glume oblong, acute, nearly 2 

 lines long, thin and almost nerveless.— Maid. Gr. N.S.W. 59; Panicum 

 paradoxum, E. Br. Prod. 193 ; Kunth, Rev. Gram. t. 32 ; Gaudich. in Freyc. 

 Voy. Bot. t. 2J. 



Hab.: Eecorded for Queensland by F. v. M. 



7. SPINIFEX, Linn. 

 (Referring to the spine-like leaves.) 

 Spikelets dioecious, spicate or solitary on partial rhachises collected in dense 

 globular heads with a bract under each rhachis. Male plant ; Spikelets usually 

 several to each bract, spicate or clustered, 2-flowered. Glumes 4, nearly similar, 

 2 outer empty ones sometimes smaller sometimes larger than the 2 flowering 

 ones. A perfect palea and 8 stamens within each flowering one. Fertile plant : 

 Spikelets solitary within each bract at the base of a partial rhachis, with 1 female 

 or hermaphrodite flower and an imperfect or rudimentary or sometimes a male 

 flower below it. Glumes 4 as in the males, the 3rd with a more or less developed 

 palea and sometimes 3 stamens or staminodes. Palea in the 4th glume perfect. 

 Stamens 8, often imperfect. Styles 2, distinct, with long shortly plumose stigmas. 

 Grain enclosed in the hardened glume and palea and free from them. — Spreading 

 or creeping hard branching grasses, the flowering branches subtended by leafy or 

 lanceolate and concave bracts. 



The genus extends to the coasts of New Zealand, New Caledonia and the sandy seashores of 

 tropical Asia. 



Heads of spikelets several inches diameter. Male spikelets in spikes of 

 1 to IJin. Females at the base of rigid rhachises of 3 to 4in. 



Plant silky-pubescent or villous 1. 5. hirsutus. 



Plant glabrous . 2. S. longifolius. 



Heads of spikelets not above lin. diameter. Male spikelets solitary or 

 clustered within small bracts. Females within broad bracts, the rhachis 

 shorter than the spikelet and sometimes minute or obsolete ..... 3. 5. paradoxus. 



1. S. hirsutus (hairy). Labill. PL Nov. Holl. ii. 81, t. 280, 231 ; Bcnth. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 603, Stem stout, creeping in the sand, forming large tufts. Leaves 

 often above 1ft. long with involute margins, clothed as well as the whole plant 

 with silky or woolly hairs. Male plant : Spikes sessile or pedunculate, few or 

 many in a terminal head or umbel and often a cluster of 2 or 3 spikes or a single 

 spike lower down on the stem, each spike 1 to l|in. long, the rhachis produced 

 into a point usually exceeding the spikelets and sometimes very long. Bracts 

 under the spikes or peduncles lanceolate, acuminate, concave. Spikelets sessile 

 in the spike or scarcely pedicellate, 5 to 6 lines long. Glumes membranous, 

 hairy, the empty ones 6 or 7-nerved, usually as long as or longer than the flower- 

 ing ones. Fertile plant : Spikelets very numerous in a large dense globular head, 

 each one solitary at the base of a spine-like rhachis of 4in. or more, subtended by 

 a much shorter linear-lanceolate bract, the spikelet 6 to 7 lines long, acute or 

 acuminate. Glumes all nearly similar, with 7 or more nerves, the 2 outer ones 

 rather the largest with more nerves than the others. A palea and sometimes 

 8 stamens in the axil of the 8rd, and an ovary and 3 stamens or staminodes in 

 the terminal one. — Sieb. Agrostoth. n. 62 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 106 ; F. v. M. 

 Fragm. viii. 138 ; Maid. Gr. N.S.W. 60 ; Buoh. Ind. Gr. N.Z. vii. and ix. ; S. 

 serkeus, E, Br. Prod. 198. 

 Hab.: Abundant on the coast sands. Also in New Zealand and New Caledonia. 



