-^^trebla.] CLIII. GRAMINEiE. 1897 



glumes 3 or 4, the entire part scarcely 1 line long, densely villous outside as well 

 as the broad base of the middle lobe; lateral lobes semilanceolate, glabrous, rigid, 

 4 to 5 lines long, acute, 2 or 3-nerved, with the outer margin broadly scarious ; 

 central lobe broad, ovate, concave, keeled, tapering into a slender straight awn 

 about as long as or rather longer than the lateral lobes. Rhachis of the spikelet 

 articulate only above the outer glumes, very hairy between the flowering ones, 

 continued and less hairy above the perfect flowers with one or two glabrous 

 glumes and palefe empty or with rudimentary flowers. — Danthonia pectinata, 

 Lindl. in Mitch. Three Exped. ii. 26. 



The first two varieties are those most generally known as " Mitchell Grasses " They are 

 grasses of coarse habit, but a very little rain will cause them to sprout at the stem-joints, on 

 ■which account they are prized by pastoralists. The two latter varieties are amongst our best 

 pasture grasses. 



Var. pectinata. Common Mitchell Grass. Splkelets woolly, closely imbricate, forming a 

 broad spike 3 or 4in. long, glossy when sterile or before the spikelets mature ; the spikes bearing 

 matured spikelets, very rough, and resembling a scrubbing-brush, smooth on the one side. 

 Plants forming erect tussocks of 2 or 3ft. — Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i. ; Turner Ag. Gaz. N.S W. i. 



Hab.: In many inland localities. 



Var. triticoides. Wheat-eared Mitchell Grass. Spikelets woolly, scarcely so closely imbricate 

 as the last, or in some distant ; forming the same solitary, broad flat spike 5 or 6in. long, and 

 bearing the rough woolly burrs all on the one side Plant taller and coarser than the last, 

 attaining to the height of 4 or 5ft. 



Hab.: Barcoo. 



Var. curvifolia. Curly Mitchell Grass. Spikelets woolly, close or distantly arranged along 

 one side of each spike. Spikes usually 2, narrow, often nodding, 8 or 9in. long. Plant forming 

 erect tufts 1 or 2ft. high, the leaves narrow and much curved. — A. triticoides, F. v. M.; Turn. 

 Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. i. 



Hab.: Georgina Biver. 



Var. elymoides. Weeping Mitchell Grass. Spikelets long, narrow, nearly glabrous, singly or 

 in parallel pairs appresse 1 to the rhachis. Spike slender, solitary, often attaining more than 

 1ft. in length. Plant decumbent, the stems several feet long. — Bail. 111. Mono. Gr. Q. i. ; Turn. 

 Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. i. 



The length of the awns or their direction is not constant enough to use for a character. 



Hab.: Warrego. 



The seeds of these grasses furnished the aborigines with a large proportion of their food. 



71. ELEUSINE, Gartn. 



(From Eleusis, one of the appellations of Ceres.) 



(Daotyloctenium, Willd. Aoraohne, Nees.) 



Spikelets several-flowered, flat, imbricate in 2 rows along one side of the 

 digitate or scattered branches of a simple panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet 

 articulate above the outer glumes. Glumes spreading, keeled and complicate, 

 thin but rigid, the 2 outer empty ones usually shorter, unequal, obtuse, acute or 

 tapering to a short point. Flowering glumes obtuse or less pointed, the terminal 

 one usually empty or rudimentary. Palea folded. Styles short, distinct. Seed 

 rugose, within a loose membranous pericarp, which either persists round the 

 ripe seeds or breaks up and falls away or otherwise disappears as the ovary 

 enlarges. 



A small widely spread tropical genus. Of the three Australian species two are common weeds 

 in warm countries, the third extends over tropical Asia and Africa. 

 Spikes digitate, short. Spikelets very closely packed, the glumes very 



pointed, the 2nd outer one almost awned. Pericarp evanescent . . . . 1. E. agyptiaca. 

 Spikes digitate or with one lower down, 2 to Sin. long. Glumes obtuse. 



Pericarp persistent 2. E. indica. 



Spikes 6 to 12, scattered or the upper ones digitate. Glumes pointed, the 



flowering ones with a small tooth on each side of the point. Pericarp 



evanescent .... 1. B. verticillata. 



1. E. segyptiaca (of Egypt), Pers. Syn. i. 82 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 615. 

 Button Grass. Stems, tufted or creeping and rooting at the base and shortly 

 ascending like the Cynodon dactylon, or rarely above 1ft. high. Leaves flat, 



