Ccelachne.] CLIII. GRAMINB^. 1889 



Glumes uaawned, convex, 2 outer empty ones broad, faintly nerved, the 8rd or 

 lowest flowering glume close above them and similar but larger. Terminal 

 flowering glume raised on the slender rhachis, smaller than the 8rd. Paleas as 

 long as the glume. Styles short, distinct, with short stigmas. Fruiting glumes 

 and paleas scarcely hardened, not closed over the grain. 



A small genus, spread over tropical Asia, the only Australian species extending to the 

 Malayan Peninsula and India 



1. C. pulchella (pretty), K. Br. Prod. 187 ; Be7ith. Fl. Austr. vii. 626. A 

 wealj slender decumbent glabrous grass, rarely ascending to 6in. Leaves flat, 

 lanceolate or almost linear, flaccid but strongly nerved, under lin. long. Panicle 

 narrow but loose, 1 to Sin. long, the rhachis and short spreading branches 

 filiform. Bpikelets mostly pedicellate, scarcely f line long. Outer empty glumes 

 almost orbicular, faintly 3-nerved, the 3rd or lowest flowering glume twice as long 

 as the outer ones, and close above them ; rhachis between the flowering glumes 

 as long as the outer glumes. Anthers small. Grain small and narrow. — Kunth, 

 Rev. Gram. t. 143. 



Hab.: Endeavour Elver, Banks and Solander, A. Cunningham. 



64. *HOLCUS, Linn. 



{Holkos, the old,Greek name of a grass.) 



(From the supposed power of the original plant in extracting thorns.) 

 Spilselets 2-flowered, numerous and crowded in an open panicle, the lower 

 flower hermaphrodite, the upper one 'male, the rhachis glabrous and produced 

 above the outer glumes. Outer empty glumes 2, nearly equal, complicate, keeled,, 

 awnless, enclosing the flowers. Flowering glumes shorter, the lowest awnless, 

 the upper one with a short dorsal twisted awn. 



The genus is limited to two species, spread over the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere in the Old World, of which one has now become naturalised in Australia as in 

 South Africa. 



1 H. lanatus (woolly), Linn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 84 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii.. 

 586. A perennial grass, with a creeping rhizome and ascending stems of 1 to 

 2ft., more or less clothed as. well as the leaves with a very short pubescence, 

 which gives the whole plant a pale soft appearance. Panicle 2 to Sin. long, pale 

 or occasionally somewhat darker coloured. Outer glumes about 2 lines long,. 

 rather obtuse, the awn of the upper flowering glume rarely reaching their length. 

 — Eeichb. Ic. Fl. Germ, t, 105 ; F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 126. 



Hab.: Darling Downs. Naturalised. 



65. *AVENA, Linn. 



(Derivation obscure.) 



Spikelets few-flowered, in a loose panicle, the rhachis articulate above the 2. 

 outer glumes, hairy under the flowering glumes. Glumes searious, at least at the 

 top, the 2 outer empty ones lanceolate, tapering to a point ; flowering glumes 

 smaller, shortly 2-cleft at the top, with a long dorsal twisted awn, the terminal 

 glume often small and empty or rudimentary. Styles distinct. Grain pubescent 

 or hairy, frequently adhering to the palea. Seed deeply furrowed. 



A considerable genus widely spread over the temperate and cooler regions of the world, but. 

 represented in Australia only by an introduced weed. 



1. A., fatua (insipid), Linn.; Kunth, Fnwn. i. 802; Benth. Fl. Austr. 

 vii. 588. Wild Oat. An erect glabrous annual, 2 or 3ft. high, with a. 

 loose panicle of large spikelets hanging from filiform unequal pedicels, arranged 

 in alternate branches along the main axis. Outer glumes nearly fin, long. 



