1900 CLIII. GRAMINEiE. 



73. PAPPOPHORUM, Schreb. 

 (Flowering glume resembling the pappus of Composite.) 

 Spikelets with one hermaphrodite flower and one or more male or rudimentary 

 flowers or empty glumes above it, in a short dense and spikelike or narrow and 

 loose panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate above the outer glumes and 

 hairy round the flowering glume. Outer glumes membranous, many-nerved, 

 awnless, as long as the spikelet. Flowering glume broad, membranous, with 9 

 or in some species more-nerved, produced into more or less plumose awns. Palea 

 2-nerved, as long as the glume or longer. Styles distinct. Grain enclosed in 

 the glume and palea, free from them. 



Besides the Australian species, which are perhaps endemic, one extending to New Guinea, 

 others are met with in Asia, Africa and America. 



Oater glumes 1 to 2 lines long, 5 to 9-nerved . . 1. P. nigricans. 



Outer glumes 3 lines long, 11 to 21-nerved . . 2. P. avenaceum. 



1. P. nigricans (blackish), R. Br. Prod. 183 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 600. 

 Stems 1 to 2ft. high. Leaves flat or convolute, usually narrow, sometimes quite 

 setaceous, glabrous pubescent or villous, the nodes glabrous or bearded. Panicle 

 dense and spikelike, varying from ovoid-oblong and under |in. long, to narrow 

 cylindrical and Sin. long, or broader more branched and 2 to Sin. long, but 

 always dense, pale or dark-coloured. Outer glumes varying from 1 to rather 

 above 2 lines long, obtuse or acute, striate with usually 7 or 9 nerves, but 

 sometimes especially on the lowest glume reduced to 5 and 2 of those short. 

 Flowering glume not above 1 line long, more or less hairy outside especially at 

 the base, with 9 fine spreading plumose awns varying from the length of the 

 glume to twice as long. Above the flowering glume and enclosed in it is usually 

 a similar smaller one with a male or rudimentary flower, and 1 or 2 still smaller 

 empty ones. — Turn. Ag. Gaz. N.S.W. ii. ; P. pallidum, R. Br. I.e. Kunth, Eev. 

 Gram. t. 51 ; P. picrpwascens and P. ffracile, R. Br. I.e., P. cmndescens, Gaudich. 

 in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 409 ; P. flavescens, Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. Si ; 

 F. virens, Lindl. I.e. 360; P. communf., F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 200. 



Hab.: Islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, R. Brown, Henne; Broadsound and Keppjl Bay. 

 E. Brown; Port Curtis, M'Gillivray ; Kmg's Greek, Bowman; Peak Downs Burkitt. 



The forms or species could only be safely separated by having all the kinds cultivated under 

 the same conditions when the distinctive characteristics might be noticed and described. 



2. P. avenaceum (Oat-like), Lindl. in Mitch. Trop. Austr. 320 ; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 601. Very near the P. nigricatis, with the same habit but the spikelike 

 panicle looser with fewer and larger spikelets. Outer glumes fully 3 lines long, 

 with numerous nerves, usually more than 11 and sometimes as many as 21. 

 Flowering glumes several, closely imbricate, the oater ones with a fertile flower 

 enclosing 1 or 2 with male (or sometimes a second fertile) flowers and 1 or 2 

 small empty glumes. 



Ha'i.: Southern and inland localities, not so common as the last-mentione 1 species. 



74. PHRAGMITES, Trin. 

 (From the Greek for "enclosure," the reeds being used for fencing.) 



Spikelets 3 or more flowered, flat when open, all pedicellate in a large much- 

 branched panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet elongated between the flowering 

 glumes and covered with very long silky hairs enveloping the flowers. Glumes 

 thin, keeled, the 2 outer ones empty, acute or shortly pointed, the 3rd like them 

 but with a longer point and enolosirig a male or rudimentary flower, the others 

 more distant with long almost awn-like points, the rhachis terminating ip a 

 rudimentary glume or bristle-like point. Palea 2-ribbed. Stigmas nearly sessile. 



A small genus extending over the tropical and temperate and some colder regions of the New 

 as well as the Old World, the Australian species being the common one over nearly the whole 

 area, in wet ditches, marshes, and shallow waters. 



