187^ CLtll. GEkUm^M. • [Iseilema. 



with 1 or 3 nerves, the awn very fine, scarcely more than as long again as the 

 spikelet. — Aiithistiria membranacea, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 88 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 543 ; Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i. 



Hab.: An inland grass widely dispersed. 



A grass well worthy of extensive cultivation both for feeding or hay, of rapid growth when 

 under cultivation, the stems long and weak, forming an entangled mass one to two feet deep. 

 This grass is very brittle, but it is said that stock are so partial to it that they often lick 

 up the broken pieces off the ground, 



49. *PHALARIS, Linn. 

 (From the brilliant shining seeds.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, flat, densely crowded in an ovoid or cylindrical spike or 

 spikelike panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the outer glumes. 

 Glumes usually 6, 2 outer larger ones thin, complicate, 3-nerved, the keel bordered 

 by a scarious wing, the 8rd and 4th small lanceolate or reduced to small bristles 

 or 1 deficient, the 5th smaller, complicate, very finely 5-nerved or apparently 

 4-nerved, the central nerve short and scarcely conspicuous enveloping the 6th 

 glume which is also complicate, enclosing the flower, apparently 2-nerved, but 

 the external angle between the nerves longitudinally ciliate. No ordinary palea. 

 Stamens 3. Styles distinct. Grain enclosed in the 2 upper glumes. 



A small genus, chiefly from the Mediterranean and neighbouring regions. 



1. P. canariensis (of Canary Islands), Linn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 31.; Benth. 

 Fl. Aiistr. vii. 557. Canary-seed Grass. An annual 3 to 5£t. high. Spikelike 

 panicle ovoid 2 to Bin. long and exceeding lin. broad. Spikelets 2 to 3 lines 

 broad, the wings of the outer glumes broad and whitish, the intermediate glumes 

 equal, lanceolate, pubescent, more than half as long as the inner ones, the inner 

 ones villous. — Sibth. Fl. Gr. t. 55 ; Trin. Spec. Gram. t. 74. 



Hab.: Naturalised in several localities. 



The plant is much cultivated, and is probably a native rather of Sonth Europe or North 

 Africa than of the Canary Islands, but it has now established itself in so many places that it 

 is difficult to say where it is really indigenous. 



50. MICROLiENA, R. Br. 



(From mikros, small, and chlaina, a covering ; in allusion to the small glume.) 



(Diplax, Hook. /.) 



Spikelets 1 -flowered, on filiform pedicels in a narrow loose panicle, the rhachis 

 of the spikelet articulate above the 2 outer glumes. Glumes 6, 2 outer short and 

 persistent, 3rd and 4th long narrow and awned, 5th and 6th shorter acute 

 unawned, all keeled. Flower terminal. No palea. Lodicules large, very thin. 

 Stamens 4 or 2. Styles distinct. Grain enclosed in the larger glumes but free 

 from them. 



A small genus, confined to Australia and New Zealand. 



1. M. Stipoides (Stipa-like), R. Br. Prod. 210 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 582. 

 Meadow Bice Grass. Stems from a perennial rhizome erect or ascending, 1 to 

 2ft. high. Leaves usually rather short, flat or convolute and very acute, glabrous 

 or slightly hairy. Panicle narrow, 3 to 6in. long, with filiform erect branches 

 and pedicels. Spikelets narrow, 4 to 5 lines long without the awn, 2 outer 

 persistent glumes minute ; 3rd and 4th glumes narrow, rigid, with 8 prominent 

 scabrous nerves, tapering into a fine awn, with a tuft of hairs at their base on 

 the slightly elongated rhachis, the 4th rather longer than the 3rd and its awn 

 sometimes much longer, 5th glume rather shorter, acute but not awned, the 

 nerves not prominent, 6th shorter very narrow and thin but stiff. Stamens 4. — 

 Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 105 ; Buch. Ind. Gr. N.E. pL ii. ; Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. 



