72 



GRAMINEAE. 



40. Ai 





about 6 mm. long, glabrous, acute, 13-15-nerved ; flowering glume rather longer, shortly 

 mucronate, villous in the lower half, and ciliate with long hairs on the marginal nerves 

 almost to the top ; palea almost entire, hairy towards base. 



Tarcoola ; Ferdinand River, and eastward to New South Wales border. Most of the 

 year. 



4. E. scleranthoides, F. v. M. Stems rather short and leaves rigid, the latter subulate 

 and pungent-pointed, spreading or recurved, 1-2^ cm. long ; panicle narrow, of few 

 spikelets on erect capillary pedicels, often reduced to a raceme l|-3 cm. long ; outer 

 glumes 4-5 mm. long, acute, purplish, glabrous, 9-nerved ; flowering glume rather longer, 

 mucronate, villous. y .~fi- 



Far North and North-West. Spring and summer. 



- ■ - 

 40. AIRA, L. 



(Greek name for Darnel.) 

 Spikelets 2-flowered, the rhachilla not continued ; outer glumes 2, persistent, mem- 

 branous, keeled, 1 -nerved ; flowering glume awned or not . Slender annual grasses. 



Outer glumes longer than the awned flowers A. caryophyllea 1. 



Outer glumes shorter than the awnless flowers A. minuta 2. 



* 1. A. caryophyllea, L. Silvery Hairgrass. Panicle loose, narrowed towards 

 with long capillary branches ; outer glumes acute, shining, 2 mm. long ; flowering glumes 

 shorter, with a fine almost basal awn surpassing the outer glumes. 



Settled districts. Sept. -Nov. — Europe. 



* 2. A. minuta, L. Usually smaller ; panicle spreading ; outer glumes obtuse, pur- 

 plish, 1£ mm. long, shorter than the truncate awnless flowering glumes. 



Settled districts. Aug. -Oct. — Mediterranean region. 



41. DESCHAMPSIA, Beauv. 

 (After Dr. J. F. L. Deschamps, a French physician.) 

 1. D. caespitosa (L.), Beauv. Tall, glabrous perennial; leaves flat, scabrous; ligule 

 lanceolate ; spikelets 2-flowered y shortly pedicellate, forming a large spreading panicle, 

 the rhachilla prolonged in a hairy bristle or barren flower ; outer glumes 2, membranous, 

 keeled, acute, about 3 mm. long ; flowering glumes scarcely exceeding them, truncate 

 and toothed with a straight dorsal awn not longer than the flowering glume ; the 2nd 

 flower raised on a short stalk. — Aira caespitosa, L. 

 South- East. 



42. AVENA. L. 



(Latin name for the Oat ) 



Spikelets paniculate usually with 2-3-stalked flowers, the terminal flower, where there 

 are more than 2, mostly male or empty ; outer glumes 2, membranous, large, persistent ; 

 flowering glume smaller, stiff, bifid, with a long bent and twisted dorsal awn ; grain pube- 

 scent at summit ; rhachilla hairy under flowering glumes ; grain deeply furrowed, pube- 

 scent at summit. 



Flowering glume shortly bifid A. fatua 1. 



Flowering glumes ending in 2 long points A. barbata 2. 



* 1. A. fatua, L. Wild Oat. Annual, with a loose, 

 pyramidal panicle ; spikelets 2-3-flowered, often droop- 

 ing ; flowering glume golden-brown, usually covered 

 with long hairs ; awn twice as long as the spikelet. 



Cultivated and waste ground throughout the State. 

 May-Dec. — Cosmopolitan. 



* 2. A. barbata, Brot. Bearded Oat. Differs from the 

 the above in the 1 -sided panicle ; the outer glumes 

 rather unequal ; flowering glume with long white hairs, 

 not shortly bifid, but terminating in 2 long points or 

 bristles. 



Waste places. Sept. -No v. — Mediterranean region. 



Fig 20. — Avena fatua. 



