Glyceria.] CLIII. GRAMINE^. 1917 



4. G. ramigera (branched), F. v. M. Fragm. viii. 131 ; Benth. Fl. Amtr. 

 vii. 659. A tall glabrous rigid almost Bamboo-like grass, branched at the base 

 and often bearing clusters of branches higher up. Leaves convolute and flat, 

 few and short on the flowering stems. Panicle 4 to Sin. long, loosely ovate or 

 at length very spreading. Spikelets rather numerous, usually 3 to 5 lines long 

 with 6 to 12 flowers, but sometimes longer, the rhachis glabrous. Outer glumes 

 narrow, hyaline, acute, faintly 1 -nerved; flowering glumes distant, about 1^ 

 line long, broad and concave, hyaline, 3-nerved, the nerves all short, the central 

 one not reaching much above the middle. — Poa mmigera, P. v. M. in Trans. 

 Vict. Inst. 1855, 45 and Fragm. I.e. 



Hjab.; Becorded for Queensland by F. v. M. 



88. FESTUCA, Linn.^ 

 (Said to be derived from a Celtic word signifying pasture or food.) 

 Spikelets several-flowered, pedicellate, in loose and spreading or compact and 

 erect more or less one-sided panicles, the rhachis of the spikelet articulate under 

 the flowering glumes, glabrous or nearly so. Outer empty glumes narrow, acute, 

 keeled, usually unequal. Flowering glumes narrow, acute or tapering into an 

 untwisted awn or rarely obtuse, rounded on the back, faintly nerved. Palea 

 narrow, with prominent nerves or keels. Ovary glabrous. Styles very short, 

 distinct. Grain enclosed in the glume and palea and more or less adnate. 



The genus is very generally spread over the globe especially in temperate or mountainous 

 regions. 



Annual. Panicle slenJer, contracted, one-sided. Awns long. Stamen usually 



1 only 1. F. bronwides. 



Panicle narrow, dense and spikelike or interrupted ; the leaves long, erect and 

 rigid .... . . 2. F. littoralis. 



1. 7. bromoides (Bromus-like), Linn.; Kunth, Enum. i. 896; Benth. Fl. 

 Austr. vii. 663. A slender tufted annual, from a few inches to above 1ft. high, 

 Leaves chiefly at the base, narrow aod convolute, often quite setacious. Panicle 

 slender, qne-sided, contracted, usually rather dense and 2 to 6in. long, with short 

 erect brariches, in small specimens reduced to 2 or 3 spikelets. Spikelets shortly 

 pedicellate, under ^in. long without the awns, 6 to 9-flowered. Glumes very 

 narrow, the lowest under 2 lines without lateral nerves, the 2nd empty one 

 3-nerved, tapering to a point or short awn ; flowering glumes obscurely nerved, 

 about 8 lines long, tapering into a fine awn at least as long as themselves. 

 Stamen 1 only. Grain adnate, long and narrow. — Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 127 ; 

 F. plebeia, E. Br. Prod. 178. 



Hab.: Brisbane River, Bailey. 



Common in the temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere. 



2. P. littoralis (a coast plant), Labill. PI. Nov. Holl. i. 22, t. 27. Stems 1 

 to 3ft. high forming dense hard tufts of a pale yellow colour. Leaves nearly 

 cylindrical, erect, rigid, pungent-pointed, glabrous, often as long as the stems. 

 Panicle narrow, dense and spikelike, 2 to 4in. long. Spikelets few, flat, erect, 

 7 to 9 lines long, 6 to 8-flowered. . Glumes about 4 lines long, rigid, straw- 

 coloured, the flowering ones with 2 nerves on each side of the keel, acute or 

 dilated and notched at the tip, the keel usually slightly protruding, the 2 outer 

 empty ones narrower, 3-nerved, acute. Rhachis of the spikelet shortly. hairy. — 

 R. Br. Prod. 178 ; Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii. 128 ; Sieb. Agrostoth. n. 68 ; Arundo 

 triodioides, Trin. Spec. Gram. t. 351 ; Schedonorus Billardierianus, Nees in Hook. 

 Lond. Journ. ii. 419 ; S. littoralis, Beauv. Agrost. 99 ; Benth. Fl. Austr. vii. 655. 



Hab.: Moreton Island, F. v. Mueller. 



