Phraffmites.] CLIII. GRAMINE^. 1901 



1. P. communis (common), Tritt.; Kunth, Enum. i. 251 ; Benth. Fl. Aiistr. 

 vii. 636. Common Reed. A stout perennial usually 5 to 7ft. high, but some- 

 times twice as much, with a long creeping rootstock and numerous long leaves 

 ■often an inch broad, the sheaths covering the stems to the inflorescence. Panicle 

 ■6in. to l^ft. long, with numerous branches, more or less one-sided and drooping, 

 often of a purplish brown tinge. Spikelets numerous, at first very narrow, 4 to 

 •6 lines long, flat and spreading when in seed, the long silky hairs proceeding from 

 the rhachis and as long as or longer than the glumes, giving the panicle a 

 beautiful silvery aspect ; the glumes themselves and the short part of the rhachis 

 below the 3rd glume quite gUbrous. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 118 ; Eeicbb. Ic. PI. 

 ■Germ. t. 108 ; Arundo phmgmite.i, Linn.; R. Br. Prod. 183. 



Hftb.: Brisbane River and many other localities in the south; in the north Goold Island, 

 31'Gillivray ; Cape Grafton, 4. Cunningham; Rockingham Bay, Dallachy; Cairns, Bailey. 



This is the common Reed so abundant on the margins of rivers and in swamps ; it is udeful 

 as affording food for stock during dry seasons. In the tropics, especially at th« Barron River, 

 although the plant is equal in size to the southern one, it is much more tender, and has a 

 ^greater tendency to sprout at the joints, and therefore a better fodder. 



The natives make their reed-spears from the stems of this grass ; using the stems of Sesbania 

 ■agyptiaca or pea-bush, called by them " Ngeen-jerry," for the sharp woody-point. — E. Palmer. 



75. ELYTROPHORUS, Beauv. 



(Referring to the large outer glume.) 



Spikelets small and flat, few-flowered, sessile, in dense compound globular 

 •clusters crowded in a cylindrical spike or the lower ones distant, the rhachis of 

 the spikelet glabrous, articulate under the flowering glumes. Outer empty glumes 

 narrow, membranous, keeled with short points. Flowering glumes 8-nerved, 

 tapering into long points or short awns, 1 or 2 upper glumes empty or with male 

 lowers. Palea folded, with two dorsal wings. Stamen 1. Styles free, distinct. 

 ■Grain smooth, free. 



The genus is limited ta the single Australian species, widely spread over tropical Asia and 

 Africa. 



1. Ii. articulatus (jointed), Beauv.; Kunth, Enum. i. 891, Eev. Gram. t. ISi ; 

 Benth. 11. Austr. vii. 638. An erect glabrous annual, from under 6in. to rather 

 above 1ft. high including the inflorescence. Leaves flat, often longer than the 

 stem, with loose sheaths. Spikelets small and very numerous, the globular 

 ■clusters sessile in a cylindrical spike 3 to 4 lines diameter and often occupying 

 the greater part of the plant, either continuous throughout or interrupted and 

 shortly branched at the base. Glumes rarely 1 line long without the points, the 

 ■awns of the flowering ones about as long as or rarely longer than the glume. 

 Dorsal wings of the palea entire or denticulate, either both or one only rather 

 •broad. 



Hab.: Between Norman and Gilbert Rivers, Gulliver; Rockhampton and neighbouring 

 •districts, O'Shanesy, Bowman, ; Bowen Downs, Birch. 



76. KCELERIA, Pers. 



(After M. Koehler.) 



W Spikelets 2 or more-flowered, flat, shortly pedicellate, numerous in a dense 

 spike-like cylindrical or interrupted panicle, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate 

 between the flowering glumes, glabrous. Glumes keeled, acute or produced into 

 short straight awns or points, 2 outer empty ones unequal and scarious on the 

 margin only ; flowering glumes similar but more scarious or hyaline, the upper 

 ones gradually smaller, the lowest the largest and sessile within the empty ones, 



