1844 CLIII. GEAMINE^. [Stenotaphrum^ 



M. Fragm. viii. 156 ; Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i ; S. glahrum, Trin. Fund. Aprost. 

 176; Rottboellia compressa, Beauv. Agrost, t. 21, f. 8 ; Diastemanthe platystachys,. 

 Steud. Syn. Glum. i. 860. 



Hab..: Wreck Eeef , Denham ; also in Leichhardt'a collections. 



Commonly cultivated but I knaw of no native Queensland habitat of this grass. 



18. THUAREA, Pers. 



(Shortened from Microthiiarea, an old name for Lolium.) 



(Microthuarea, Beauv.; Thouarea, Kunth; Ornithoeephalochloa, Kurz.) 



Spikelets monoecious, in a simple one-sided spike, enclosed in a spatha-like- 



bract, the upper (4 to 6) spikelets with 2 male flowers, the 1 or 2 lower ones with 



one female or hermaphrodite flower and a rudimentary or male^ one below it. 



Glumes 4, the outer one small and hyaline (or sometimes wanting ?), flowering 



ones when perfect with a perfect palea. Styles distinct, slender, with very 



densely plumose brush-like stigmas. In fruit the bract under the spike falls- 



away, the lower part of the rhachis becomes much dilated, envelops the fruiting 



spikelet and is said to bury itself in the sand, the fruiting glume and palea. 



stiffened but scarcely hardened, the grain enclosed but free. 



The genus contains only a single species common on sandy sea shores from the Mascarene- 

 to the Pacific Islands. 



1. T. sarmentosa (a sea coast plant), Pers. Syti. i. 110; Benth. FL Austr. 

 vii. 502. Stems creeping and rooting to a great extent, shortly ascending under 

 the inflorescence. Leaves flat, lanceolate, broad or narrow, 1 to 2in. long,, 

 minutely but densely or sometimes sparingly silky pubescent on both sides. 

 Spike usually about lin. long, the spikelets about 2 lines ; 2nd and 3rd glumes 

 of the lower fertile one nearly equal, 7 or 9-nerved. Fruiting glume more rigid, 

 but thin and glabrous. In the male spikelets the small outer glume often 

 deficient, the 2nd hairy, the 3rd and 4th rather longer, glabrous, each enclosings 

 a male flower. — Kunth, Eevis. Gram. t. 35 ; Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i ; T.. 

 latifolia, T. media and T. involuta, R. Br. Prod. 198 ; OrnitJiJcephalochlooi 

 arenicola, Kurz in Trin. Journ. Bot. iv. (1875), 332, t. 171. 



Hab.: Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander ; Eockingham Bay, Dallachy. Tropical coast, 

 generally. 



There appears to be but one species ranging from Madagascar to the Society Islands. In the- 

 inore slender specimens, usually minutely and sparingly pubescent but never quite glabrous,, 

 there is usually but one fertile spikelet in the spike ; in the vigorous very silky ones, such as 

 Dallaohy's, there are usually but not always two. — Benth. 



19. ORYZA, Linn. 

 (From the Arabic name.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, flaJt, articulate, on short pedicels or sessile along tha- 

 flexuose branches of a terminal panicle. Glumes 4, 2 outer ones small, lanceolate,, 

 2 upper ones complicate and keeled, the outer one the largest. No 2-nerved. 

 palea. Stamens 6. Style short distinct. Grain enclosed in the hardened, 

 almost coherent upper glumes, but free from them. 



A genus of very few species from the warmer regions of the New and the Old World, 



1. O. sativa (cultivated), Linn. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 7; Benth. Fl. Austr. vil. 

 550. Wild Eice. "Anbo-a," "Kwang-an," Princess Charlotte Bay, " Moko- 

 murdo," Cloncurry, " Jikan," Cooktown, Roth. Stems creeping or floating at 

 the base, ascending to several ft. Leaves long and rather broad, very scabrous 

 especially on the upper side, otherwise glabrous, the ligula prominent scarious 

 and jagged. Panicle narrow, erect, 6in. to above 1ft. long. Spikelets ovate- 

 oblong, 3 to 4 lines long. Outer glumes scarcely J line long and nerveless,. 



