1886 CLIII. GRAMINEiE. [Spinifex. 



2. S. longifolius (leaves long), li. Br. P,od. 198; Benth. PL Austr. vii. 

 504. Closely resembles C. hirsutus but quite glabrous except the long cilia of 

 the ligula and sometimes a few on the margins of the leaf-sheaths. Leaves 

 narrow, rigid, often above 1ft. long but not so pungent as in the Asiatic S. 

 squarrosw!, of which S. lonf/ifolins may perhaps be a variety only. Male spikes 

 usually looser than in S. hirsutus. Spikelets scarcely . 5 lines long, the outer 

 empty glumes shorter than the flowering ones. In the female spikes the outer 

 glumes quite as long as the inner ones, and seldom if ever palea or stamens in 

 the 3rd glume. — Nees in PI. Preiss. ii. 95 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 139 ; S. 

 fragilis, R. Br. I.e. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, B. Brown. 



3. S. paradoxus (paradoxical), Benth. in Hook. Ic. Fl. t'. 1243, 1244 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 504. Glabrous, divaricately branched, rigid and brittle ;but 

 not so stout as the preceding species, the branches in clusters of 3 to 6 sur- 

 rounded by short leaves with loose sheaths, the lower stem-leaves long and 

 narrow ; the ligula a dense ring of cilia. Male plant : Spikelets in a dense 

 cluster or head of f to fin. diameter, 1 to 8 outer bracts lanceolate and about 

 as long as the head, the inner ones much reduced, the spikelets about 3 lines 

 long, the outer ones nearly sessile, the inner ones pedicellate and sometimes 2 on 

 a pedicel, the pedicel or axis produced into a point shorter than the spikelet. 

 Outer empty glumes 2, several-nerved ; flowering glumes 2, nearly equal, longer 

 than the empty ones, each with a palea and 3 stamens. Female plant : Heads 

 the size of the males when in flower, but the bracts larger and broader, and when 

 in fruit the bracts variously enlarged, 1 or 2 often becoming curved, lin. long or 

 more, broad with hard centres and searious margins, sometimes all scarcely 

 changed. Spikelets almost sessile within each bract, the very short pedicel 

 produced into a point much shorter than the spikelet, and sometimes minute or 

 obsolete. Empty glumes prominently 7 or 9-nerved, the 2 outer, rather shorter 

 than the 3rd, which is either empty like them or contains a small palea. Fruiting 

 glume shorter, very acute, smooth and shining. Styles distinct. — Neurachne 

 parado.ra, R. Br. in App. Sturt Exped. 26 ; Panicum 2iseudoneurachne, F. v. M. 

 Fragm. viii. 199. 



Hab.: An inland species , 



8. AXONOPUS, Beauv. 



(From a.ro7i, axis, and jious, a foot.) 



Perennial grasses. Spikelets 2-flowered, articulate with the pedicel, sessile 

 or subsessile in whorls or "digitate spikes, awned. Glumes 4, 1st shortest, ovate, 

 acuminate or cuspidate, glabrous, 3-nerved ; 2nd ovate-lanceolate, acuminate 

 or awned, 5-nerved, lateral nerves marginal villous ; 3rd oblong, acutg, 5-nerved, 

 paleate, male, palea very short, 2-fid or 2-partite; 4th = 2nd, oblong or ovate, 

 .coriaceous, 2-nerved. Lodicules cuneate. Stamens 3, anthers long. Styles 

 distinct. Grain small, suborbicular, free within the glumes. 



1. A. semialatus (half-winged), Hoolc. Fl. Brit. Ind. Vn. 64. Cockatoo 

 Grass. Stems erect, 2 to 3ft. high, silky-pubescent about the nodes, otherwise 

 glabrous or nearly so. Leaves narrow with involute margins or subulate, usually 

 pubescent, the low«r ones sometimes densely clothed with long silky hairs. 

 Panicle 3 to 6in. long, consisting of 2 to 5 long erect or slightly diverging 

 branches, clustered at the end of a long peduncle. Spikelets 2 to 2| lines long, 

 few together in erect clusters or short branches along the rhachis. Glumes all 

 ending in a short subulate point, the outer one membranous, 3-nerved, about J 

 the length of the spikelet, the 2nd, the largest, membranous, 5-nerved, fringed on 

 each side with long' pale or dark-coloured hairs spreading in fruit and connected 



