1860 CLIII. GEAMINEiE. [Remartlma: 



spikelefc, sometimes elongated and fine or minutely hooked at the extremity, or 

 in some speoimans, especially towards the end of the spike, terminating in a 

 rather long inflexed rigid hook. In the pedicellate spikelet the point of the outer 

 glume is often longer finer and straight, but occasionally that also is hooked and 

 more rarely the 2nd glume ends in a small hook. — Duthie Ind. Gr. PI. xviii. ; 

 H, uncinata, E. Br. I.e., Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 107 ; Brongn. in Duperr. Voy. 

 Bot. t. 15. 



Hab.! Brisbane EiVer, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller,^ BaJey ; Bookb^mpton, O'Shanesy ; 

 Dawson Eiver, F, v. Mueller; also in Leichliardt's collection. 



On this grass is sometimes found the fungus Puocinia straminis, De Bary. 



41. OPHIURUS, Br. 



(Snake- tailed ; resemblance of the spikes.) 

 Spikelets singly sessile and embeded in the alternate cavities of the articulate 

 rhachis of a simple spike, with 1 hermaphrodite or female flower and often a male 

 one below it, the spike single on each peduncle above a sheathing bract, and 

 cylindrical or nearly so. Glumes 4, the outer one hard, closely covering the 

 cavity of the rhachis, the 2nd thin but rather rigid, concave or keeled, the 3rd 

 and 4th as well as the palea thin and hyaline, all awnless. Styles distinct. Grain 

 enclosed in the glumes but free from them. 



A small tropical Asiatic and African genus, the only Australian species extending also into 

 East India. The genus only differs from liottboellia in the want of the pedicellate barren 

 spikelets. — Benth. 



,1. O. corymbosus (corymbose), Omrtn.; Kunt Ji, Enum. i. iGi; Beiitlj. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 512. Stems erect, branching, attaining 5 or 6ft. in height. Upper 

 leaves few with long sheaths, quite glabrous in the typical form. Spikes rigid, 2 

 to Sin. long and scarcely above 1 line diameter, pedunculate and clustered in the 

 upper leaf-sheaths, but each peduncle with a long narrow sheathing bract below the 

 spike. Outer glume lanceolate, 2 lines long, very hard, 5-nerved and pitted or 

 tuberculate between the nerves, 2nd glume in the deep cavity very concave and 

 keeled, 8rd enclosing a palea and male flower, 4th or terminal one with a 

 hermaphrodite (or female?) flower. — Rottboellia corymbosa, Linn. ; Boxb. Corom. 

 PI. t. 181. 



Hab.: Albert Eiver, F. v. Mueller; Endeavour Eiver, Banks and Solander ; Kennedy district, 

 Daintree ; Eoekhampton, O'Shanesy, Thoset ; Herbert's Creek, Bowman. 



Widely spread over East India, also in tropical Africa. 



42. ELIONURUS, Willd. 



(Twisted tails.) 



Spikelets in pairs, in the alternate notches of the articulate rhachis of a simple 

 spike, 1 sessile with 1 hermaphrodite flower, the other pedicellate and barren, the ■ 

 spike solitary and densely silky-hairy. Outer glume of the barren spikelet usually 

 spreading. Fertile spikelet appressed. Glumes 4, the outer one the largest erect 

 and 2-lobed, the 2nd shorter, thin but rigid and pointed, 3rd and 4th shorter very 

 thin and hyaline, all without awns. Palea none (or very minute?). Styles 

 distinct. Grain enclosed in the outer glumes, free from them. 



The genus is spread over tropical and subtropical America and Africa, extending sp.aringly 

 into Western Asia. The only Australian species is endemic. - "iff*";, ' * 



1. S. citreus (Citron-like scent), Munro ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 510. Stems 

 slender, 1| to 2ft. high. Lower leaves very narrow, almost subulate, with short 

 broad sheaths ; upper ones with long loose sheaths passing into the sheathing 

 bracts, upper one on the peduncle below the spike. Spike Sin. long, densely silky 

 with the Spreading hairs of the rhachis and pedicels, Barren spikelets on a short 



