.] OLIII. GRAMIKE^. 1865 



acute, the keel winged toiiyards the end, 3rd thin but rigid and acute, with a male 

 flower, the 4th under the hermaphrodite flower thin and hyaline, entire and 

 awnleas or slightly notched with a minute awn. Pedicellate spikelet narrower, 

 but containing a hermaphrodite flower. — Andropogan muticiis, Steud. Syn. Glum, 

 i. 374 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 120 partly. 



Hab.: Bockiugham Bay, Dallachy. 



Widely spread on the aea-ooasts of tropical Asia and the South Pacific Islands. 



4. 1. fragile (frail), JB. Br. Prod. 205 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 522. Stems 

 slender, ascending or erect, 1^ to 2ft, high. Leaves narrow, those on the stem 

 with long- and loose sheaths, the uppermost sheath close and slender. Spike 

 single, about l^in. long, rigid, on a long peduncle. Articles of the rhaohis and 

 pedicels of the barren spikelets similar to each other, about as long as the sessile 

 fertile spikelet, ovate-turgid almost hemispherical, hard and shining outside, the 



■ inner cavity closed by a thin membrane, the 2 assuming the appearance of 2 

 ;eollateral spikelets, the fertile spikelet sessile between them on the other side of 

 the rhachis, about 2 lines long, with a tuft of brown cilia at its base. Outer 

 glume broad, rigid, faintly 5-nerved, notched at the end, with 2 prominent 

 membranous wings, 2nd glume keeled and tapering to a fine point or very short 

 awn, 3rd thin, almost hyaline with a palea as long and not thinner and 3 stamens, 

 4th terminal glume very thin and hyaline, bifid, the awn twice or three times as 

 long as the spikelet. Pedicellate spikelet smaller, reduced to 2 membranous 

 glumes, the outer one broad and rather obtuse, the inner narrow, tapering to 

 a point. 

 Hab.: Endeavour Hiver, Banks and Solander ; Port Deuisou. 



5. I. laxum (loose), B. Br. Prod. 205 ; Benth. FL Austr. vii. 522. A rather 

 slender grass of 2 to 3ft., quite glabrous. Leaves narrow, often subulate, the 

 ligula short, ciliate. Spike single, dense, sometimes slightly curved, 2 to 4 or 

 rarely 5in. long ; rhachis and pedicels ciliate. Sessile spikelet narrow, scarcely 

 flattened, 3 to 4 lines long ; outer glume acutely acuminate, with 2 rather 

 prominent nerves and obscure ones between them ; 2nd glume thin, produced into 

 a long fine straight awn ; 3rd hyaline, with a male flower ; terminal glume 

 hyaline, narrow, bifid,, with a long bent awn. Pedicellate spikelet more 

 conspicuous, much flattened as well as the pedicel. Glumes acutely acuniinate, 

 the outer one broadly lanceolate, with 5 very prominent nerves, the 2nd- thin, 

 scarious, faintly 3-nerved, two flowering glumes and paleas thin and hyaline, 

 both with male flowers or the 3rd empty. — Turner Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. ii. PL 

 xxxvii ; Atidropogon nervosus, Eottb. ; Kunth, Enum. i. 507 ; Hologamium 

 iiervosum, Nees in Edinb. N. Phil. Journ. xviii. 185. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, B. Brown; Peak Downs, Burkitt; Bockhampton 

 and neighbourhood, Bowman, Tliozet, O'Shanesy ; also in Leichhardt'a collection. 

 The species extends over tropical Asia and Africit: 



34. EREMOCHLOA, Buse. 

 (Desert grass.) 

 Perennial grasses. Leaves more or less equitant rigid. Spikelet 1-flowered 

 flat, secund, solitary, sessile at each internode of a terminal narrow compressed 

 spike, with a rudimentary pedicellate one. Glumes 4, the 1st nearly flat, oblong, 

 smooth, coriaceous, not awned, margins pectinate ; 2nd ovate-lanceolate, 

 acuminate, chartaceous, 3-nerved ; 3rd hyaUne, oblong, obtuse, paleate, male ; 

 4th smaller, hyaline, oblong, obtuse, 1 -nerved, female or bisexual ; palea oblong- 

 lanceolate. Lodiculea obliquely truncate. Stamens 3, anthers long. Stigmas 

 - short, feathery. 



Species few, Sast Asia and Australia. 



1st glume broadly-oblong, wings fan-shaped . . , 1, E, muricata. 



1st glume elliptic subaottte, Wing? small rounded 2. E. himaeulata. 



