1876 CLIII. GRAMINEiE. [Stipa. 



Flowering glume glabrous or slightly hairy at the end, very shortly pro- 

 duced into hyaline lobes or entire. Palea very small or rarely half as 

 long as the glume. 

 Panicle branches long and plumose. Spikelets 4 to 6 lines long . . . 1. S. elegantissima. 

 Panicle very much branched, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Spikelets 



scarcely IJ line long 2. S. vdcrantha. 



Flowering glume silky-hairy, the margins not dilated under the awn. Palea 

 nearly as long as the glume. 

 Ligula elongated, not ciliate. Panicle loose. Leaves slender, filiform . 3, S. selacea. 

 Ligula short, ciliate. Awn plumose-hairy in the lower part. Panicle 

 dense, 6 to lOin. long. Awn 1^ to 4in. long, shortly plumose-hairy all 



round to the bend or higher up 4. S. semiharbata. 



Ligula short, ciliate. Awn glabrous or slightly pubescent. 



Lowest glume usually slightly dilated and truncate or toothed at the 

 end. Flowering glume narrow. Panicle dense or at length long and 



loose 5. S. pubescens. 



Lowest glume usually 3-pointed. Flowering glume rather broad. 



Panicle very loose . . 6. S. aristiglumis. 



Lowest glume always fine-pointed. 

 Leaves slender, glabrous or pubescent, the upper sheaths sometimes 



dilated. Panicle loose 7. S. scabra. 



1. S. elegantissima (very elegant), Labill. PL Nov. Holl. i. 23, t. 29 ; 

 Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 565. Stems from a horizontal rhizome erect and branching,, 

 rigid though rather slender, 2 to 3ft. high. Leaves narrow, mostly erect, 

 convolute when dry, glabrous. Panicle very loose, 6 to Sin. long, at length 

 broadly spreading, the rhaohis and long filiform branches elegantly plumose with 

 fine spreading hairs. Outer glumes 4 to 6 lines long, equal or the lowest much 

 shorter, acutely acuminate ; flowering glume shorter, on a short hairy stipes but 

 glabrous, the involute margins shortly hyaline at the end and produced into a 

 very short obtuse lobe on each side of the awn. Awn 1 to IJin. long or 

 sometimes even longer. Palea less than ^ as long as the glume. — E. Br. Prod. 

 175 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. Ill ; Ness in PI. Preiss. ii. 93 ; F. v. M. Fragm. 

 viii. 103. 



Hab.: Eeeorded for Queensland by F. v. M. 



2. S. micrantha (flowers small), CavJ R. Br. Prod. 175; Benth. tl. 

 Austr. vii. 566. Bamboo Grass. Stems several feet high, not stout but rigid, 

 sometimes spreading or scrambling with the branches in dense clusters, sometimes 

 long and little-branched. Leaves very slender, the sheaths often long and loose, 

 glabrous. Panicle loose but often narrow, from under 6in. to above 1ft. long, 

 with very numerous capillary glabrous branches. Spikelets the smallest in the 

 genus, pedicellate on the ultimate branches. Outer glumes linear, very thin, 

 nearly equal, scarcely 1^ line long. Flowering glume shorter, nearly glabrous, 

 on a very short and ciliate stipes, entire at the top, the awn very slender, about 

 ^in. long. Palea not above \ the length of the glume.— Sieb. Agrostoth. n. 64, 

 and n. 82 ; 8. verticillata, Nees in Spreng. Syst. Cur. Post. 80 ; Streptachne 

 verticillata, Trin. and Eupr. Gram. Slip. 8 ; Stipa ■ramosissima, Nees in Sieb. 

 Agrostoth. n. 82 ; Trin. in Mem. Acad. Petersb. ser. 6, i. 74 ; F. v. M. Fragm. 

 viii. 105 ; Streptachne ramosissima, Trin. and Rupr. Gram. Stip. 7, who refer to 

 it Urachne ramosissima, Trin. Gram. Unifl. 173, there very insufficiently described. 



Hab.: Brisbane Eiver, Bailey; Dawson Eiver, F. v. Mueller; Darling Downs, Leichhardt; 

 Warwick, Beckler. 



It appears to me probable that E. Brown was correct in identifying this plant with the S 

 micrantha described and figured by CavaniUes lo. v. 42, t. 467, although more recent botanists 

 have thought that Cavanilles' description agreed better with the Dichelachne sciiiren ■ that 

 author, however, adds to his plate a magnified figure of a flowering glume and awn which is 

 wholly inapplicable to the Dichelachne, hui agree well with the present species which is also 

 well represented (in its rather poor state) by Cavanilles' general figure. The awn is certainly 

 articulate on the glume, and therefore not that of Streptoc7we.— Benth. 



