Andropogon.] OLIII. GEAMINEiE. 1863 



or 4, nearly sessile at the end of a peduncle without sheathing bracts, erect or 

 scarcely spreading, about Sin. long, the spikelets concealed under the very 

 copious long silky hairs surrounding the sessile spikelets on the pedicels and a 

 few on the outer glumes. Sessile spikelets about 3 lines long, the outer glume 

 nearly equally many-nerved, with a short scarious often notched tip ; 2nd glume 

 rather shorter, keeled, 8-nerved, acute, 3rd thin and hyaline ; awn or terminal 

 glume fine, not above twice the length of the spikelet, contracted at the base into 

 a flexuose stipes, with sometimes a very slight hyaline dilatation. Pedicellate 

 spikelet reduced to 1 or 2 empty glumes. — Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i. : Turner Ag. 

 Gaz. N.S.W. ii. PI. 

 Hab.: Peak Downs, t: v. Mueller; Darling Downs, Leiehhardt; Springsure, Wutk. 



2. A. sericeus (silky), R. Br. Prod. 201 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 529. Blue 

 Grass. Stems erect, branching at the base, usually rather slender and I to 

 2ft. high, with narrow leaves chiefly at the base, but sometimes twice that height 

 with larger leaves, the nodes bearded. Spikes in the typical form 2 or 3 or rarely 

 twice as many, sessile at the top of a slender peduncle without sheathing bracts, 

 all 1 to 2in. long and densely clothed with long silky hairs on the outer glumes 

 as well as on the rhaohis and pedicels. Spikelets scarcely 2 lines long, the 

 pedicellate one reduced to a many-nerved silky-hairy glume enclosing a second 

 small hyaline lanceolate one. Outer glume of the sessile spikelet rather rigid, 

 obtuse or nearly so, about 5 -nerved, with long silky hairs on the back and a short 

 scarious ciliate tip ; 2nd glume keeled, acute, glabrous ; 3rd very small broad 

 thin and hyaline; awn or terminal glume f to l|in. long, without any hyaline 

 dilatation at the base. — Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i. ; Turner Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. i. PI. ; 

 A. chrysatherus, F. v. M. in Linnsea, xxv. 443; A. annulatus, F. v.-M. Fragm. 

 viii. 128, but not of Forsk. 



Hab.: Keppel Bay, iJ. Broion ; Cape York, DacmeJ ; Port Curtis, M'Gillivray ; Moreton Bay, 

 A. Cunningham, F. V. Mueller and others; Condamine Biver, etc., Leiehhardt; Eockhampton, 

 and other localities in the south, O'Shanesy and others. 



Also in New Caledonia and the Philippines. 



Var. polystachyus. Tassel Blue Grass. Usually a larger plant with 10 to 30 or even more 

 spikes of IJ to 2in., all closely sessile in a terminal head, the long silky hairs and structure of 

 the spikelets precisely as in the tyi ioal form. 



Hab.: Swears Island, Henne, and many tropical localities ; Port Denison, Fitzalan ; Burdekin 

 Biver, Bowman; Bockhampton, O'Shanesy. 



3. A. affinis (near another), K. Br. Prod. 201 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 580. 

 Very near A. sericeus and perhaps a variety, with the same habit, the nodes less 

 bearded and sometimes quite glabrous. Spikes usually 3 or 4 not quite sessile, 

 IJ to 2in. long, the spikelets rather longer and narrower than in A. sericeus and 

 not so closely imbricate, the long silky spreading hairs only on the pedicels and 

 at the base of the sessile spikelets, not on the backs of the glumes, the 3rd 

 glume more developed ; the awn f to IJin. long.— Turner Ag. Gaz. N.S.W., 

 ii. PI. 



Hab. : Keppel Bay, JR. Brown ; Moreton Bay, Leiehhardt, C. Stuart, Bailey. 



4. A. pertuSUS (pitted), Willd. ; Kunth. Emm. i. 498 ; Benth. Fl. Atlstr. 

 vii. 580. Stems slender, 1 to 2ft. high, the nodes glabrous. Leaves 

 chiefly at the base of the stem, narrow, glabrous. Spikes 2 to 5, sessile, 

 or nearly so at the end of the peduncle without sheathing bracts, 1 to 2in. 

 long, silky-hairy as in the preceding species, with long hairs on the pedicels and 

 at the base of the sessile spikelets. Spikelets fully 2 lines long, rather obtuse, 

 the outer glume marked above the middle with a small pit which assumes inside 

 the appearance of a projecting gland. Awn slender, about f rarely lin. long. 

 Pedicellate spikelet usually containing a male flower.— E. Br. Prod. 201 ; Duthie 

 Ind. Gr. PI. xxv. 



Hab.: East Coast, E. Brown; Dawson Eiver, .F. v. Mueller; Brisbane River, Bailey; 

 Eockhampton, Thozet, O'Shanesy ; Darling Downs, 

 Widely spread over tropical Asia. 



