Aristida.] CLIII. GRAMINEiB. 1875 



7. A. ramosa (branching), R. Br. Prod. 173 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 568. 

 Very nearly allied to A. calycina, waA almost intermediate between that and ^i. 

 vagans. Panicle narrow, with erect or scarcely spreading branches and the outer 

 glumes as long as the flowering ones or nearly so as in A. calycina, but the 

 spikelets much smaller, the glumes scarcely above 3 lines and the awns under 

 |in. long. 



Hab.: Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, F. v. Mueller, Bailey ; Bookhampton, O'Shanesy ; 

 Herbert's Creek, Doioman ; Darling Downs, Law. 



Var. ? leptathera. Panicle spreading, awns lin. long, but the spikelets of A. ramosa. 



Hab.: Dry-beef Greek, Leichhardt. 



Var. compacta. Panicle short and dense. 



Hab.: Gracemere, O'Shanesy. 



8. A., calycina (calyx or outer glume prominent), R. Br. Prod. 173 ; Benth. 

 Fl. Austr. vii. 563. Stems tufted, erect, 1 to 2ffc. high. Leaves very narrow, 

 mostly subulate. Panicle narrow, often above 6in. long, with few short erect 

 branches, rarely at length spreading, each bearing 1 or 2, or the lower ones several, 

 but few sessile or shortly pedicellate spikelets. Spikelets in the typical form 4 to 

 5 lines long without the awns. Outer glumes with fine points, the 2nd as long 

 as or longer than the flowering glume. Awns slender, sessile, f to l^in. long. 

 Palea rather long. — Maiden Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. xi. PL 



Hab.: Keppel Bay, iJ. Brown ; Flinders River and Nerkool Creek, Bowman; Darling Downs, 

 Lato ; Peak Downs, Burkitt. 



Inland specimens of tliis and some other species I have frequently found to be infested with 

 the blight-fungus Ustilago segetum, Bull. 



9. A. adscensionis (after the island of Ascension), Linn.; Sp. PL 82. A 

 very variable grass, distinguished by its narrow spikelets crowded and almost 

 imbricate along the short erect branches of a narrow compact panicle. Stems 

 ascending or erect, above 1ft. high. Leaves narrow, ending in subulate points. 

 Panicle from 2 and 3in. long and spikelike, to 6 or Sin. and interrupted at 

 the base. Spikelets sessile along the branches and often purplish. Outer glumes 

 about 3 lines long. Flowering glumes usually longer. Awns sessile, varying 

 from 4 to 6 liaes or rather more. — A. vulgaris, Trin. and Rupr. Gram. Stip. 131 ; 

 A. depressa, Retz.; Kunth, Enum. i. 190 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. 663 ; Duth. Ind. Gr. 

 pi. XXX. and A. Hystrix, pi. xxxi. 



Hab.: Peak Downs, Burkitt ; hill scrubs of southern localities. 



Widely spread over tropical and subtropical Asia and Africa and the aouth Mediterranean 

 regions. 



52. STIPA, Linn. 

 (Panicles feather-like.) 



Spikelets, 1-flowered, on filiform pedicels or nearly sessile in a terminal panicle, 

 the rhaohis of the spikelet articulate above the 2 outer glumes. Glumes 3, 

 narrow, 2 outer usually .persistent, membranous, keeled, empty, unawned ; 

 terminal or flowering glume narrow, rigid, rolled round the flower, with a 

 terminal undivided bent awn spirally twisted below the bend. Palea enclosed in 

 the flowering glume. Lodicules usually large. Anthers usually tipped with a 

 tuft of hairs. Styles distinct. Grain narrow, enclosed in the hard upper glume 

 but free from it. — A short continuation of the rhachis of the spikelet above the 

 articulation forms usually a stipes to the flower and fruit, falls off with it and is 

 usually ciliate with short hairs, the awn is more or less distinctly articulate on 

 the flowering glume, but usually remains attached to it after it falls. 



The genus is widely dispersed over the tropical and temperate regions of the New and the Old 

 World. The Australian species, however, belong to the group or section Nesostipa, Trin., 

 which is exclusively Australian, one of them only extends to New Zealand, the remaining 

 ones appear to be all endemic. 



