Echinopogon.] CLIII. GRAMINEyB. 1879 



opper surface. Head or spikelike panicle on a long terminal peduncle, varying 

 irom ovoid-globular and fin. diameter to oblong-cylindrical and 2in. long. 

 Spikelets numerous and densely crowded, about 1^ line long without the awns. 

 Outer glumes lanceolate, boat-shaped, the keel prominent green and ciliate. 

 Flowering glume rather broad, surrounded by a tuft of hairs, the lateral lobes 

 very short, acute, rigid at the base, the central one shortly flat at the base, 

 tapering to an awn of 2 to 4 lines. Palea nearly as long as the glume. Bristle 

 continuing the axis at the back of the palea usually shorter than the glume, 

 bearing a short tuft of hairs or rudimentary glume. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 117 ; 

 Sieb. Agrost. n. 89 ; Buch. Ind. Gr. N.Z. PI. xiii. B. ; Agrostis ovata, Forst.; 

 Labill. PI. Nov. HoU. i. 19, t. 21 ; E. Br. Prod. 171 ; Cinna 'ovata, Kunth, Enum. 

 i. 208 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 106 ; Echinopogon Sieberi, Steud. Syn. Glum. i. 188 

 (from the reference to Sieber). 

 Hab.: Brisbane River, Moretou Bay, Bailey ; head of the Gwydir Biver, Leichhardt. 



56. AMPHIPOGON, E. Br. 

 (Referring to the hairs round the rhachis of the spikelet.) 



(^gopogon, Beauv. ; Gamelythrum, Nees.) 

 Spikelets 1-flowered, nearly sessile in a dense panicle contracted into a head or 

 short spike, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the 2 outer glumes, and 

 not continued beyond the flower. Glumes 3, 2 outer persistent, membranous, 

 S- nerved, acute or tapering to an awn -like point, rarely 3-fid ; flowering glume 

 raised on a short hairy stipes (the rhachis of the spikelet), closed round the 

 flower, deeply divided into 3 narrow lobes tapering into straight points or awns. 

 Palea usually as long as the flowering glume, deeply divided into 2 narrow rigid 

 lobes or awns. Styles united at the base, free upwards. Grain enclosed in the 

 slightly hardened upper glume. — Perennial grasses with convolute terete or 

 subulate leaves. 

 The genus is endemic in Australia. 



1. A. strictus (upright), R. Br. Prod. 175 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 597- 

 Stems from a horizontal rhizome or tufted branching base erect and slender, 

 usually above 1ft. high. Leaves rather short, erect, subulate, glabrous. Spike- 

 like panicle dense, oblong or cylindrical, f to IJin. long, but little branched. 

 Outer glumes broad, concave, faintly 3-nerved, almost scarious, entire when 

 perfect, the outer one about 2 lines, the inner rather longer and more acute. 

 Flowering glume on the short hairy stipes shorter than the outer glume, with 2 

 short rows of hairs on the back, divided into 3 rigid ciliate linear lobes or awns 

 longer than the entire part. Palea narrow, deeply divided to 2 rigid lobes similar 

 to those of the flowering glume. Seed separable from the membranous pericarp. 

 ^Turner Austr. Gr. 2 ; Mgopogon strictus, Beauv. Agrost. 122 ; Amphipogon 

 caricinus, F. v. M. in Linnsea, xxv. 445 ; A Brownei, F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 201, 

 partly. 



Hab.: Barcoo Biver, S. Browne. 



57. SPOROBOLUS, E. Br. 



(Referring to the seeds being cast to the outside of the panicle.) 



Spikelets small, 1-flowered, nearly sessile or pedicellate in a narrow spikelike 

 ■or loose and pyramidal panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet very short, glabrous, 

 scarcely articulate, not continued beyond the flower. Glumes 3, persistent or 

 separately deciduous, unawned, slightly keeled or convex and obscurely nerved, 2 

 outer empty ones usually unequal ; flowering glume as long or longer. Palea 

 about as long as the glume, with 2 nerves usually prominent, and readily splitting 



