1892 CLIII. GEAMINE^. [Danthonia.. 



sheaths glabrous or hairy, more or less ciliate at the orifice. Panicle sometimes 

 loose and spreading, more frequently narrow and compact. Outer glumes acute, 

 above |-in. and sometimes nearly lin. long. Flowering glumes usually 4 to 8, 

 not exceeding the outer ones, the lobes lanceolate, with a broad or narrow hyaline 

 margin, acute or tapering into a point or rather short fine awn, the long hairs or 

 cilia copious at the base and margins and forming a ring round the back 

 immediately under the lobes, the twisted awn varying from ^ to lin. Palea longer 

 than the entire base of the glume, often 2-pointed. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 120 ; 

 Trin. Spec. Gram. t. 52; Buch. Ind. Gr. N.Z. PI. xxxiv. ; Turn. Ag. Gaz.. 

 N.B.W. i. ; Arundo semiannularis, Labill. PI. Nov. Holl. i. 26, t. 38 ; D. varia, 

 Nees in PI. Preiss. ii. 103 ; D. setacea, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 121, not of E. Br. ; 

 D. eriantha, Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. ii. 307. 

 Hab.: Darling Downs. 



An excellent grass for pasture or hay, considered one of the most nutritious of the native 

 grasses, producing feed during winter and early in spring. 



67. ANISOPOGON, E. Br. 



(Unequal-bearded.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, large, in a loose but scarcely branched panicle, the 

 rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the two outer glumes and produced into a 

 slender bristle above the flower occasionally bearing an imperfect spikelet.. 

 Glumes 3, the two outer herbaceous ; flowering glume raised on a short stipes 

 (the rhachis of the spikelet), narrow, convolute, hard, with 8 rigid awns between 

 2 small hyaline terminal lobes, the central awn long twisted and bent. Palea 

 hard, ending in a long rigid 2-nerved point. Styles distinct. Ovary crowned by 

 a tuft of hairs. 

 Besides the Australian species which is endemic, there is one from South Africa. 



1. A., avenaceus (Oat-like), Ii. Br. Prod. 176 ; Benth. El. Austr. vii. 590. 

 An erect glabrous grass of 2 or 3ft., branching at the base only. Leaves convolute, 

 terminating in subulate points ; ligula very short, truncate, often ciliate. Panicle 

 long, the large spikelets hanging from slender pedicels. Outer glumes narrow, 

 about 9-nerved, 1-| to 2in. long. Flowering glume about Jin. long, the central 

 awn 2 J to 8in. long, the lateral ones finer and not half so long. Palea longer 

 than the entire part of the glume. Lodicules long and lanceolate. Terminal 

 barren spikelet when present small and silky-villous. — Beauv. Agrost. t. 9, f. 8 ; 

 Kunth, Eev. Gram. t. 62; t;ieb. Agrostoth. n. 56; Maid. Gr. N.S.W. 132; 

 Beyeuxia avenacea, Spreng. Syst. i. 254 ; Danthonia anisopogon, Trin. Spec. Gram- 

 t. 61. 

 Hab.: Queensland, F. v. M. 



68. CYNODON, Pers. 

 (Literally " Dog-tooth "; doubtful how applied.) 



Spikelets 1-flowered, awnless, singly sessile in 2 rows on one side of slender 

 spikes, digitate at the end of the peduncle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate 

 immediately above the outer glumes, and either not produced beyond the flower 

 or continued into a minute point behind the palea. Outer empty glumes 3, 

 keeled, persistent or deciduous. Flowering glume broader, boat-shaped, with a 

 prominent keel. Palea narrow or rather broad, the 2 nerves prominent, distant 

 or closely contiguous. Grain smooth, enclosed in the glume and palea, but free 

 from them. 

 A genus of very few species. 



Flowering glume longer than the outer ones. Palea folded, with a small 



bristle or point behind it .... 1. C. dactylon. 



