60. Distichlis. GRAM1NEAE. 79 



* 9. E. major, Host. Annual ; leaves glabrous, except for long hairs at orifice of sheath, 

 the blades with small tuberculate teeth along the edges ; panicle compact, with short 

 spreading-erect branches ; spikelets becoming lead-colored, 5-15 mm. long, 3 mm. broad; 

 10-26-flowered, shortly pedicellate ; flowering glume obtuse, almost notched, with very 

 prominent nerves ; palea broad, nearly as long ; grain ovoid, £ mm. long ; rhachilla not 

 disarticulating. 



Murray district ; northern areas. Summer. — Mediterranean region. 



* 10. E. minor, Host. Differs from the preceding by the narrower spikelets (2 mm. 

 broad), less crowded on the panicle -branches. The tufts of long hairs at the orifice of the 

 leaf sheath, outside the ligule, and the tubercles on the blade, serve to distinguish it from 

 panicled forms of E. Brownii. 



Flinders Range and Far North. Spring and Summer. — Mediterranean region. 



11. E. eriopoda. Benth. Perennial ; stems slender, rising from a swollen, densely woolly 

 base ; leaves setaceous ; panicle narrow and spikelike, or broad with divaricate branches ;' 

 spikelets spreading, shortly pedicellate, 5-15 mm. long, 3 mm. broad, 10-40-flowered, 

 flat, glabrous, obtuse ; palea broad, nearly as long as the glume, ciliate ; grain ovoid. 



North of Renmark ; Far North and West. Spring and summer. 



Var. laniflora. Flowering glumes woolly towards the base with long marginal hairs; palea 

 ciliate on nerves, the hairs longer towards the base. — E. laniflora, Benth. Same localities. 



12. E. setifolia, Nees. Perennial, with a swollen, slightly woolly base ; leaves setaceous? 

 or rarely flat and tapering ; panicle narrow, with short branches ; spikelets numerous, 

 shortly pedicellate, 8-20 mm. long, 2 mm. broad, 12-60-flowered, violet or straw-colored ; 

 palea narrow, almost glabrous ; grain ovoid-oblong but small. — E. chaetophylla, Steud. 



Throughout the Far North, including the Flinders Range. ■■-. 



13. E. falcata, Gaudich. Slender perennial with setaceous leaves and a spreading 

 panicle of 5-10 cm. ; spikelets few, shortly pedicellate, purple or brown, linear and almost 

 cylindrical (1 mm. broad), straight or somewhat falcate, 10-30-flowered, 5-15 mm. long; 

 flowering glumes obtuse, closely appressed, but rather distant from each other, the lateral 

 nerves faint. — E. lacunar ia, F. v. M. . 



River Murray ; Far North and West. 



14. E. Dielsii, Pilger. Near the preceding, but the spikelets are sessile or almost so, 

 not so slender (1| mm. broad), more frequently curved, crowded, 5-25 mm. long, 10-50- 

 flowered ; base of plant somewhat swollen. — E. falcata, Benth. non Gaudich. 



River Murray ; Far North and West. 



60. DISTICHLIS, Rafin. 

 (Greek distikhos, in 2 rows : position of the leaves.) 

 1. D. spicata (L.), Greene. Low stiff grass, with creeping stems and almost pungent 

 spreading distichous leaves ; spikelets flat, dioecious, 8-12-flowered 10-15 mm. long, in 

 a short raceme ; glumes many-nerved, keeled, acute. — D. maritima, Rafin. 



Usually in sand on the sea-coast, and also near salt lakes in northern districts. Summer. 



61. SCHISMUS, Beauv. 



(Greek skhisma, division : the flowering glume is split at the top.) 



*1. S. ealycinus (L ), Coss. et Dur. Small annual ; leaves inrolled-setaceous, glabrous, 



with long hairs at orifice of sheath ; panicle narrow ; spikelets 6-8-flowered ; outer glumes 



subequal, 5 -nerved, as long as or rather shorter than the flowers ; flowering glume broad, 



9-nerved, pubescent, bifid and usually mucronate in the notch. — S. marginatus, Beauv. 



Country between Terowie and Cockburn. Aug. -Nov. — Mediterranean region; South 

 Africa. 



62. POA, L. 

 (Greek poe, grass.) 

 Spikelets compressed laterally, several-flowered, paniculate ; rhachilla articulate ; 

 outer glumes 2, 1-3-nerved, shorter than the flowers, persistent ; flowering glumes 5-9- 

 nerved, keeled, awnless, often woolly on the back ; grain glabrous, with a punctiform 

 hilum, usually free from the palea. 

 A. Perennials. 



B. Panicle long and loose. 

 C. Spikelets ovate -lanceolate. 



Uppermost leaf blade as long as sheath P. caespitosa 1. 



Uppermost leafblade much shorter than sheath . . P. pratensis 2. 



C. Spikelets broad-lanceolate, quivering P. Drummondiana 3. 



B. Panicle short, contracted. 



Base bulbous P. bulbosa 4. 



Base not bulbous P. caespitosa, var. 



A. Annuals. 



Flowering glumes 5-nerved P. annua 5. 



Flowering glumes 7-9-nerved P. lepida 6. 



