1842 CLIII. GEAMINEiE. [Cenchms. 



nearly equal or tha 2nd shorter ; a palea and sometimes 3 stamens in the 3rd. 

 Fruiting glume more rigid than the others but not so much hardened as in 

 Panicum. Stylos usually very shortly united at the base. Nut enclosed in the 

 fruiting glume and palea, free from -them. 



The genus is spread over the warmer regions of both the New and the Old World. The 

 Australian species are endemic. 



Leaves glabrous. Involucres under 4 lines long, the inner bristles or lobes 

 plumose at the base. Spikeleta solitary 1. C australis, 



"Leaves softly villous. Involucres 5 lines long, the inner bristles or lobes 



shortly oiliate. Spikelets usually 3 2, C, elymoides. 



1. C. australis (Australian), R. Rr. Prod. 196 ; Bentli. Fl. Austr. vii. 497. A 

 stout glabrous grass, attaining 6 to 9ft. Leaves long and flat ; ligula split into 

 cilia. Spike rather dense, 4 to Sin. long, the rhachis slightly scabrousrpubescent. 

 Involucres very shortly pedicellate, erect or at length reflexed, broadly ovoid, 

 under 4 lines long, the inner bristles or lobes about 10, flattened and very shortly 

 united at the base, plumose in the lower half, scabrous in the upper part with 

 reversed asperities, one sometimes but not frequently longer than the others ; 

 outer bristles numerous, unequal, subulate and scabrous from the base. Spikelets 

 solitary in the involucre and shorter than the inner lobes. Outer glume short, 

 obtuse, hyaline, nerveless, 2nd glume acute, 3 or 5-nerved, 3rd rather longer, 

 5-nerved, with a palea and sometimes a male flower in its axil. Fruiting glume 

 as long. — Sieb. Agrostoth. n. 53; C. echinatus, var. Trin. in Mem. Acad. Petersb. 

 ser. 6, iii. 173. 



Hab.: Northumberland Islands, J?. Brown; Brisbane Biver, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller 

 Jiaileij ; Rockhampton and neighbouring districts, Bowman, O'Slmnesy and others. 



2. C. elymoides (Elymus-like), F. r. M. Fragm viii. 107 ; Benth. I<1. Austr. 

 vii. 498. An erect grass of several feet. Leaves flat or convolute, often very 

 long, the sheaths and under surface villous with soft hairs. Spike 4 to Gin. long. 

 Invojuores sessile, about 5 lines long, close together or rather distant along the 

 ■floxuose rhachis. Inner bristles or lobes about 8, flat, shortly ciliate, not 

 inflexed ; outer ones shorter, rather numerous, subulate, 1 narrow inner one 

 . awnlike and at least twice as long as the others, all scabrous with asperities 

 turned upwards. Spikelets usually 3. Oater glume very short and hyaline ; 2nd 

 glume nearly as long as the 3rd. A male flower in the 3rd glume of the central 

 spikelet, often a palea only in the lateral spikelets. Terminal or fruiting glume 



■enclosing a hermaphrodite or female flower, or sometimes only a male in the 

 lateral spikelets. 

 Hab.: Cape York and a few other tropical localities. 



16. XEROCHLOA, E. Br. 



(Referring to the dry nature of the grass.) 



Spikelets with 1 terminal hermaphrodite flower and frequently a male one 

 below it, few in a short simple or branched spike almost enclosed in distant 

 sheathing bracts along the main axis of the panide, with a bract under each 

 branch or spikelet. Glumes 4, thin, the outer one short, the 2nd longer, the 8rd 

 the longest with a large very prominently 2-nerved palea and often 3 stamens. 

 Termiual flowering glume shorter and very thin. Palea broad, closely enveloping 

 the flower and fruit. Styles united almost up to the rather long plumose stigmas. 

 Grain enclosed in the thin palea, free from it. 



The genus is limited to Australia. 



"Spikelets glabrous ^ . , . 1, X, imberbis. 



Pedicel 2nd glume and palea of the 3rd glume densely bearded, at least in the 



upper spikelets . . . ; ' 2. A', barlata. 



